Caithness and the Hebrides ancient spindle whorls are thought to have been made by seven vipers who worked them into shape with their teeth, and as they were finished the king of the vipers carried them off upon his tail.[1] In the north of England almost any kind of perforated stone, such as is suspended as a charm against nightmare or to prevent night-sweating in the stable, is called an adder stone.[2]
The fortunate possessor of a genuine adder stone[3] was assured of success in all his undertakings, particularly, according to Pliny's informants, in law-suits and royal audiences.[4] According to more modern authorities, in addition to the general good fortune which it guarantees to the possessor, the adder stone has specific qualities, among which its use as prophylactic against the attack of snakes or as an antidote against their poison is almost universal. The method of cure is usually to dip the stone in water, which is then given to the patient to drink.
In Wales the curative properties of the adder stone are specially efficacious in diseases of the eye,[5] and Aelian recommends the application of the slough of an adder for such ailments.[6] The origin of this superstition can be explained. Aristotle gave authority for the belief that if the eyes of young swallows or serpents were put out they grew again.[7] In one
- ↑ Folk-Lore, xvi. p. 336. Cf. Sir John Evans, Stone Implements of Great Britain, 2nd ed., p. 437; Johnson, Folk Memory, pp. i, 7. 158. Such whorls are also called "Pixy grindstones," "Pixy wheels" or "Fairy mill-stones" in various parts of England and Ireland.
- ↑ Denham Tracts (Folk-Lore Society), ii. p. 43; Balfour and Thomas, County Folk-Lore, IV., Northumberland, pp. 51-52. For Perforated Stone Amulets see Elworthy in Man, 1903, No. 8, pp. 17-20.
- ↑ A genuine adder-stone will float upstream even if set with gold (Pliny, loc. cit.).
- ↑ Though Pliny tells us that it did not help a Roman equestrian who was put to death by Claudius.
- ↑ Trevelyan, op. cit. p. 171.
- ↑ Aelian, Nat. An. ix. 16.
- ↑ Aristotle, Hist. Nat. ii. 17, vi. 5; De Gen. An. iv. 6. Cf. Antigonus Carystius, Historiarium Mirabilium Collectanea, Ixxviii.; Aelian, Nat. An. ii. 3, xvii. 20; Pliny, Nat. Hist. xi. (55), 153.
