• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Zippy Facts Logo

Zippy Facts

Interesting Random Facts

  • Animals
  • Culture
  • Firsts
  • Food
  • Geography
  • Health
  • History
  • Inventions
  • Language
  • Mythology
  • Odds
  • People
  • Religion
  • Science
  • Space
  • Universe
  • World
You are here: Home / Language / Where does the word “Madstone” come from and What does Madstone mean?

Where does the word “Madstone” come from and What does Madstone mean?

May 30, 2020 by Karen Hill

The New Orleans Times-Picayune Magazine of June 19, 1949, as quoted by Dictionary of Americanisms, reported a statement to the effect that there had been an estimated “4000 actual cases in which the application of the Mad Stone brought about instant relief and final cure of snake bites, black widow spider stings, bee stings, and mad dog bites,” etc.

Obviously we should know what this miraculous stone is, especially as no less a person than Abraham Lincoln believed in its efficacy when he took his son Robert, bitten by a dog, to Terre Haute to have a madstone applied to the wound.

Actually, various substances of stone-like nature have been given the name.

Generally, however, it is a hard substance that may occur somewhere in the digestive system of an animal, such as a calculus within the gall bladder or a mass of hair or calciferously coated pebble within the stomach of, say, a deer.

Where and how the popular belief arose in America is not known.

Literary reference goes back only to the early nineteenth century, but it was undoubtedly much earlier.

Related Facts

  • History of Dogs
  • What Does the Word Calculus Mean and Where Did Calculus Come From?
  • Where do Germs, Bacteria, and Viruses come from and How do they make us sick?
  • How did prehistoric humans transport and arrange the giant boulders at Stonehenge?
  • How do animal trainers teach guide dogs to cross at the green light if they are color blind?
  • Top 25 Inventions That Changed the World

Filed Under: Language

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « Where does the word “Hellbender” come from and What does Hellbender mean?
Next Post: Where does the phrase “aide-de-camp” come from and What does aide de camp mean? »

Footer

Follow

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Medium
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Categories

Accomplishments Animals Culture Firsts Food Geography Health History Inventions Language Mythology Odds People Religion Science Space Universe World Your Body

About

Zippy Facts empowers the world by serving educational content that is accessible to everyone.

A tribute to growing up, zippyfacts.com showcases interesting and unusual facts about the world.

Our mission is to use technology to facilitate knowledge transfer and sharing.

Copyright © 2020 Zippy Facts

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy