Of Madstones and Bezours

In The Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter’s friend, Ron Weasley, accidentally drank some poisoned oak-matured mead, and collapsed.  Remembering an incident from one of his classes, Harry obtained a bezoar stone, and shoved it down Ron’s throat, saving his life.

For those who don’t know, the Harry Potter books are about magic and witchcraft, and are complete and absolute fiction…almost.

Bezoar stones are real.

——————————————

Let me be perfectly clear, you should never, ever shove anything down anyone’s throat, especially someone who is unconscious.  In fact, I would recommend you not try to imitate most of the acts committed in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books. 

However, that doesn’t change the fact that bezoar stones are real.

Really.

——————————————

According to The American Heritage® Medical Dictionary, published by Houghton Mifflin Company in 2007, this is the definition of bezoar: “Bezoar (bē′zôr′) n. – A hard indigestible mass of material, such as hair, plant fibers, or seeds, found in the stomach or intestine of animals, especially ruminants and sometimes humans. Bezoars were formerly considered to be antidotes to poisons and to possess magic properties.”

——————————————

In other words, an animal ingests something that irritates their digestive system or, for some reason, won’t pass through.  The critter’s body reacts by coating the irritant with body secretions, like calcium, similar to the way pearls are formed inside an oyster.  The secretions solidify around the object, greatly reducing the irritation and making life easier on the poor animal.

Sometimes the mass compacts and/or gets coated to such an extent that it resembles a stone, much like its cousins, kidney stones and gall stones.  Bezours may be found in the stomachs of many, many types of animals, including cattle, horses, goats, llamas, camels and even elephants.

The name, bezoar, was commonly used in history and is still used in some other parts of the world.  It derives from a Persian word “padzahr”, which means “expelling poison.”  They are known, scientifically, as enteroliths.

——————————————

Sometime prior to the Middle Ages, the use of bezour stones was included in the medical practice, “lithothereapy,” which also included the use of actual stones in the treatment of medical problems at times.  The practice spread to Europe, England, and, eventually, America.

In this country, bezours were commonly known as madstones.  Although, as mentioned earlier, they can be found in the stomachs of many different animals, in America, superstition held that the most powerful ones came from deer…and not just any deer; the most effective madstones came from white deer.  It was thought that the whiteness of the animal gave the bezour more drawing power.

While in the old country, bezours were used to test food or drink for poison, in the new world they were frequently used to “cure” snakebite or to prevent someone bitten by a rabid animal from actually contracting the disease. 

The owner of a madstone was considered to be quite lucky and was expected to share it freely with others.  He or she might carry it in a pocket or wear it on a necklace around their necks.  The stones could not be bought or sold, but must be given away or loaned to those in need.  If money changed hands, the stone could lose its effectiveness.  If it was stolen, it stopped working and the thief was doomed to a life of bad luck.

That all sounds good, but did they work?

——————————————

Let’s hear from some people who have had experience with madstones.

Joe Roberts says “When I was a kid, my aunt and her friend were picking peas and were both bitten by the same rattlesnake. An old woman next door heard the screams and when she heard ‘snakebite,’ she ran inside and came back out with a leather pouch and put them in her car and drove them 20 miles to the emergency room. On the way, she used a ‘Mad Stone’ taken from the stomach of a white deer on both bites and drew the poison out and neither of the women had to have the antidote injection.”

According to Ron Taylor, “Franklin Callaway Taylor was bad to pet stray dogs. One hot summer day in Laurens County, SC he ran up Highway 49 and tried to pet a stray. The dog bit him on his arm and he ran back to the house. The dog was rabid and chased the other children into the house. Their father, Robert Whitner Taylor, saw the bite and tried to kill the dog but it escaped. The year was around 1910. Robert Whitner hitched up the wagon and he and Uncle Charlie rode to Maddens Station where Mose Madden lived. Robert asked Mose for his mad stone. A mad stone is a black stone taken from a deer’s intestine. Robert Whitner took the mad stone home and rubbed it on Frank’s dog bite several times. They watched Frank for several days and because he showed no signs of rabies, Robert Whitner returned the mad stone to Mose Madden. Uncle Frank lived to be 73 years old and lived a healthy life.”

Again, this anecdotal evidence sounds good, but how was a madstone used?

——————————————

In the article, “The Madstone,” Mel Tharp tells us, “The most common practice was to moisten the stone by soaking it in warm water or hot milk and applying it to the wound. The stone generally adhered to the wound until filled with poison, whereupon it dropped off. The stone was again placed in the water or milk and the poison allowed to seep out of it (turning the liquid a different color). After more moisturizing, the stone was replaced on the wound and the process repeated until the stone no longer adhered. This was a sign that the poison was all gone from the wound and that the patient would recover. Often the process would take a number of hours and in one Texas case, the stone is said to have worked for 31 hours during which time it dropped off and was relieved of its poison four times.”

——————————————

My opinion?

Well, despite the anecdotal evidence, I find the idea of madstones, or bezours, to be an interesting part of myth, superstition, and folklore, but just that.  I admit, I am not a believer in them.  As I’ve said, they do exist, but, if I’m bitten by a rabid dog or a rattlesnake, I’d rather trust my life and health to a doctor of modern medicine, than to something found in the digestive tract of a deer.  However, if I find a madstone when I’m butchering a deer, I’m going to hang onto it for the novelty and, believe me, if I’m ever out in the wilderness with the nearest doctor hours away, and a fat, ugly rattlesnake or rabid ‘coon bites me, I’ll stick that bezour right on the bite, just as if I did believe in it.

After all, Harry Potter saved Ron Weasley with one.

——————————————

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE AT THE UPPER RIGHT. IT’S FREE!

You will ONLY receive notifications when I post new entries to my blog.

Go to the top of the right hand column where it says, “SUBSCRIBE TO BLOG VIA EMAIL”.  Fill in your email and hit the “Subscribe” button.  You will receive a verification email.  Please confirm that you want to subscribe by clicking, “Confirm Follow” and you will be set!  Thanks!

It doesn’t seem to work from a cell phone, only a computer.  I don’t know why.  Sorry.  If there’s a problem, send me your email address and I’ll sign you up.

——————————————