The snake-stone, legends regarding which are met with in so many different parts of the world, is known to the Lapps of northern Europe, and strange to say, some of the elements of Pliny’s old recital touching the “serpent’s egg” come out in the account given of it by this primitive race, in general so far removed from any notion of classical tradition. Anyone in search of this stone must resort, according to the Lapps, to the pairing place of snakes, for here they throw the stone, which is small and white, back and forth to one another; he must steal along quietly until he is quite near to the snakes and then snatch the stone as it flies through the air, and run away with it as fast as he can to the nearest piece of water. Should he reach the water before the snake does—for the reptile pursues him—he gains the ownership of the stone; if, however, the snake first reaches the water, this is very dangerous for the man. Hence he should carefully search out the nearest water before snatching the stone, and as the snake will not immediately know what has become of it, and will hunt for it awhile before starting in pursuit of the thief, the latter will have time to come first to the water.[448] Tertullian writes that the wearing of stones taken from the head of a dragon or of a serpent was especially reprehensible in the case of a Christian; for how could a Christian be said to “bruise the head” of the Old Serpent (Gen. iii, 15) while wearing such a stone about his neck or on his head, and thus testifying to a kind of serpent worship![449] The Greek poem “Lithica,” belonging to the fourth century B.C., also celebrates the virtues of a “snake-stone,” which is to be pressed closely on the bitten spot; but besides this application, the drinking of undiluted wine in which the stone _ostrites_ had been pulverized, is recommended. This shows that the therapeutic value of alcohol as a stimulant to revive the nerve-centres, paralyzed by the animal poison, was recognized at this time. An unusually precise description is given of the _ostrites_; it was round, hard, black and rough, and was marked by many wavy lines or veins. Some one of the many varieties of banded agate seems to answer best to this description.[450] The legend that St. Patrick drove out all snakes from Ireland sometimes took the form that the saint had transformed them into stones. This belief is noted by Andrew Borde, physician and ecclesiastic, who, writing in 1542, mentions some strange stones he had been shown on that island: I have sene stones the whiche have had the forme and shape of a snake and other venimous wormes. And the people of the countrie sayth that such stones were wormes, and they were turned into stones by the power of God and the prayers of saynt Patrick. And English merchauntes of England do fetch of the erth of Irlonde to caste in their garden’s, to keepe out and to kyll venimous wormes.[451]