The myth of snake stones or black stones

Q: What are snake stones? Do they work to remove snake venom? 

Q: Does the snake venom solidify and become 'nagamani' and help in neutralising the venom when applied to a snake bite wound?

Krishna: No, snake venom doesn't become nagamani or naag-mani and it doesn't neutralise venom. The so-called 'naag-mani' gem is a myth and it actually does not exist. It's more or less an outcome of some senseless bollywood movies that portray it to have some magical powers. Science has no evidence in support of such a thing as naag-mani.

The only standardized specific treatment currently available for neutralizing the medically important effects of snake venom toxins is antivenom prepared scientifically.

A snake-stone, also known as a viper's stone, snake's pearl, black stone, serpent-stone, or nagamani is an animal bone or just a stone used as folk medicine for snake bite in Africa, South America, India and other countries of  Asia. People who practice this fake remedy place a charred piece of cow bone  on the site of the snakebite and think it absorbs  fluid (allegedly venom). But venom once injected into a person doesn't stay there. It will disperse and spread all over the body.

No these snake stones don't work. Don't believe these myths

Image source: Google images

Snake-stones (black stones) do not work at all, at least not for removing any venom from the bite. The notion that a snakebite can be treated by somehow extracting the venom has successfully fooled us since at least the 1400's, when the black stone was first mentioned as the go-to remedy for treating snake envenomations. They do provide a really great  illusion, however. Out of the 3000 different species of snakes, only 600 are venomous, and less than 200 pose a significant threat to human life or limb. Given that many harmless snakes look like dangerous snakes, and most people don’t know very much about snakes at all, it is safe to say that the black stone is used on far more non-venomous snakes than venomous ones. Further complicating matters is the fact that venomous snakes do not always inject venom when they bite a human, and it is estimated that 20% or more of venomous snakebites are defensive “dry bites” where no venom is injected. So if five people are bitten by venomous snakes, one of them is likely to be “cured” by the black stone because the person wasn’t actually injected with any venom at all. Combine that with all of the people bitten by harmless snakes who were “cured” by the black stone and it is easy to see how this type of myth takes hold. It’s a fabulous sleight of hand that produces a great deal of very real suffering for those who fall victim to the myth.

Studies were conducted (1,2) to test the action of black stone (also known as snake stone or serpent stone). This is the abstract (1) of one of the scientific experiments and the related paper:

Black stone has been used since Antiquity to treat snake bites and local infections. Its efficacy is debated. Since no clinical trial has been performed, researchers conducted a series of in vivo and in vitro experiments in a murine model. After determining the LD50 of batches of venoms of Bitis arietans, Echis ocellatus and Naja nigricollis according to the Spearman-Kärber's method, they used four separate methods. First, they injected a fixed lethal amount of venom (triple the LD50) IM to the shaved thighs of lots of five mice and applied the black stone with an adhesive plaster at the point of injection at 0, 15, 30, 60 and 180 minutes. In another series of experiments, they administered increasing amounts of venom to each group of 5 mice according to the same protocol used to measure the LD50; and applied black stone as above, immediately after the administration of each amount of venom. In the third series of experiments, they reduced black stone to powder and mixed 3 LD50 of each venom with an increasing amount of powder for 30 minutes. After centrifugation, the supernatant was injected into mice and mortality measured. Two control groups (venom alone and black stone alone) were used in all the cases. Venom adsorption on black stone surface was assessed in vitro by measurement of residual proteins in supernatant after mixing black stone powder and venom for thirty minutes and centrifugation. The results showed the absence of effectiveness of the black stone when applied on wounds after venom injection. However, the direct contact between the black stone powder and the venom did reduce venom toxicity, as if black stone fixed venom proteins and removed the venom from the inoculum. The mechanical effectiveness of black stone can thus be shown. However, its efficacy in treating envenomation seemed very doubtful because of it is very nonspecific and because the venom diffuses rapidly from the wound.

Abstract of another paper (2): The black stone (BS) has been used since antiquity to treat envenomations. Since no actual clinical trial has ever been performed we used an experimental approach to evaluate its efficacy against the venoms of Bitis arietans, Echis ocellatus and Naja nigricollis. Local application of BS after intramuscular venom injection had no demonstrable effect on the outcome of envenomationa and it did not change the LD(50) of B. arietans venom. Our results show that, contrary to widespread belief, no efficacy to treat envenomation may be expected of the BS.

So don't waste your time and money on these fake treatments. If you are bitten by a poisonous snake (3), just go to a qualified medical doctor or a good hospital and take an antivenom.

Footnotes:

1. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18180213/

2. Study of the efficacy of the black stone on envenomation by snake b...

• Chippaux JP, Ramos-Cerrillo B, Stock RP.Toxicon. 2007 Apr;49(5):717-20. doi: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2006.11.002. Epub 2006 Nov 16.PMID: 17174999

  3. https://kkartlab.in/group/some-science/forum/topics/the-importance-...