1772.—"Being returned to Roode-Zand, the much celebrated Snake-stone (Slange-steen) was shown to me, which few of the farmers here could afford to purchase, it being sold at a high price, and held in great esteem. It is imported from the Indies, especially from Malabar, and cost several, frequently 10 or 12, rix dollars. It is round, and convex on one side, of a black colour, with a pale ash-grey speck in the middle, and tubulated with very minute pores.... When it is applied to any part that has been bitten by a serpent, it sticks fast to the wound, and extracts the poison; as soon as it is saturated, it falls off of itself...."—Thunberg, Travels, E.T. i. 155 (A Journey into Caffraria).
1796.—"Of the remedies to which cures of venomous bites are often ascribed in India, some are certainly not less frivolous than those employed in Europe for the bite of the viper; yet to infer from thence that the effects of the poison cannot be very dangerous, would not be more rational than to ascribe the recovery of a person bitten by a Cobra de Capello, to the application of a snake-stone, or to the words muttered over the patient by a Bramin."—Patrick Russell, Account of Indian Serpents, 77.
1820.—"Another kind of snake-stone ... was a small oval body, smooth and shining, externally black, internally grey; it had no earthy smell when breathed on, and had no absorbent or adhesive power. By the person who presented it to Sir Alexander Johnstone it was much valued, and for adequate reason if true, 'it had saved the lives of four men.'"—Dr. Davy, in As. Res. xiii. 318.
1860.—"The use of the Pamboo-Kaloo, or snake-stone, as a remedy in cases of wounds by venomous serpents, has probably been communicated to the Singhalese by the itinerant snake-charmers who resort to the island from the Coast of Coromandel; and more than one well-authenticated instance of its successful application has been told to me by persons who had been eye-witnesses."... (These follow.) "... As to the snake-stone itself, I submitted one, the application of which I have been describing, to Mr. Faraday, and he has communicated to me, as the result of his analysis, his belief that it is 'a piece of charred bone which has been filled with blood, perhaps several times, and then charred again.'... The probability is, that the animal charcoal, when instantaneously applied, may be sufficiently porous and absorbent to extract the venom from the recent wound, together with a portion of the blood, before it has had time to be carried into the system...."—Tennent, Ceylon, i. 197-200.
1861.—"'Have you been bitten?' 'Yes, Sahib,' he replied, calmly; 'the last snake was a vicious one, and it has bitten me. But there is no danger,' he added, extracting from the recesses of his mysterious bag a small piece of white stone. This he wetted, and applied to the wound, to which it seemed to adhere ... he apparently suffered no ... material hurt. I was thus effectually convinced that snake-charming is a real art, and not merely clever conjuring, as I had previously imagined. These so-called snake stones are well known throughout India."—Lt.-Col. T. Lewin, A Fly on the Wheel, 91-92.
1872.—"With reference to the snake-stones, which, when applied to the bites, are said to absorb and suck out the poison, ... I have only to say that I believe they are perfectly powerless to produce any such effect ... when we reflect on the quantity of poison, and the force and depth with and to which it is injected ... and the extreme rapidity with which it is hurried along in the vascular system to the nerve centres, I think it is obvious that the application of one of these stones can be of little use in a real bite of a deadly snake, and that a belief in their efficacy is a dangerous delusion."—Fayrer, Thanatophidia of India, pp. 38, 40.
[1880.—"It is stated that in the pouch-like throat appendages of the older birds ([adjutants]), the fang of a snake is sometimes to be found. This, if rubbed above the place where a poisonous snake has bitten a man, is supposed to prevent the venom spreading to the vital parts of the body. Again, it is believed that a so-called 'snake-stone' is contained within the head of the adjutant. This, if applied to a snake-bite, attaches itself to the punctures, and extracts all the venom...."—Ball, Jungle Life, 82.]
SNEAKER, s. A large cup (or small basin) with a saucer and cover. The native servants call it sīnīgar. We had guessed that it was perhaps formed in some way from ṣīnī in the sense of 'china-ware,' or from the same word, used in Ar. and Pers., in the sense of 'a salver' (see [CHINA], s.). But we have since seen that the word is not only in Grose's Lexicon Balatronicum, with the explanation 'a small bowl,' but is also in Todd: 'A small vessel of drink.' A sneaker of punch is a term still used in several places for a small bowl; and in fact it occurs in the Spectator and other works of the 18th century. So the word is of genuine English origin; no doubt of a semi-slang kind.
1714.—"Our little burlesque authors, who are the delight of ordinary readers, generally abound in these pert phrases, which have in them more vivacity than wit. I lately saw an instance of this kind of writing, which gave me so truly an idea of it, that I could not forbear begging a copy of the letter....
"Past 2 o'clock and