Sept. 1, 1867. ] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



201 



in partially alleviating the effects of the poison— 

 "Since," lie said (I quote from memory), "the very 

 first pulsation, after the bite had been inflicted, 

 would carry a portion of the poison into the circu- 

 lation." Now as the matter referred to is of con- 

 siderable importance, perhaps you will permit me to 

 say that my own experience connected with snake- 

 bites—extending over a service of sixteen years in 

 the East Indies— does not coincide with the asser- 

 tion of the above writer's friend. 



I have myself treated four cases of cobra-bites 

 among my native servants and the men of my regi- 

 ment ; and in all the cases I found that speedy 

 cauterization with liquor ammonia fortior, combined 

 with small doses of brandy at short intervals, and 

 making the sufferer walk about for half an hour or 

 more after treatment, always succeeded in checking 

 bad consequences. A tourniquet was at the same 

 time applied above the bite (in my cases all four 

 men were bitten in the leg), and kept tightly 

 screwed up till the caustic had done its work. It 

 is possible that merely sucking the wound might 

 not suffice to remove the poison (to say nothing of 

 the risk caused through any abrasion, however 

 slight, in the mouth of the operator) ; but I feel 

 sure that the prompt use of a ligature above the 

 wound, and the application of liquid caustic to the 

 bite would, in almost every instance, suffice for a 

 perfect cure — certainly in the case of a bite from a 

 common viper, whose venom has not the activity of 

 that of the cobra di capello. 



On a person being bitten by a snake, the poison 

 is not at once admitted into the circulation. Nature 

 endeavours by every means to prevent its entrance 

 into the blood. The effusion of blood, on the bite 

 being inflicted, is an effort on her part to wash out 

 the veins, as it were ; and although in the case of 

 acute poisons (such as that of some snakes) this 

 effort rarely suffices to expel the whole of the 

 offending matter, still time is thus afforded for the 

 application of further means for its removal. It 

 would therefore be a great mistake to refuse to aid 

 Nature's efforts by the use of ligatures, cupping- 

 glasses, or liquid caustic. 



All animal poisons when introduced into the cir- 

 culating fluid— whether the poison be that of snake- 

 bite, rabies, syphilis, &c. — have a longer or shorter 

 period of incubation before they commence their 

 work of destruction, and it is during this period of 

 inactivity that means should be employed for their 

 elimination ; and I feel confident that were a man 

 who was bitten by a venomous snake to at once tie 

 his handkerchief or neckcloth tightly above the bite 

 (should such be practicable), and cauterize the 

 wound either with fire, lunar caustic, liquor ammo- 

 nite, or any strong acid {the liquid applications being 

 far preferable), he would, in nine cases out of ten, 

 escape, with nothing worse than the inevitable tem- 

 porary shock to the system. W. S. Y. 



TOADFLAXES. 



September woods, September skies, so soft and sunny all ! 



Unfaded and unfall'n your leaves, and yet so soon to fall. 



Ah I what avails that dying smile which gilds your fading 

 green, 



While Winter peeps, like Death, behind, to shut the fare- 

 well scene ! 



fl^HE wane of the year is again upon us : the 

 -^ fields, cleared for the most part of their " golden 

 grain," present a forlorn appearance ; and the 

 shortening days, as well as the gorgeous hues of the 

 fading leaves, tell us that Autumn has indeed 

 arrived. There is always a certain amount of sad- 

 ness associated with the ingathering of the corn ; 

 we feel that the full beauty of the year has departed, 

 and in the stubble which remains we seem to find 

 an intimation of the coming Winter. Not that a 

 stubble-field is, in itself, dull or gloomy ; for many 

 a bright flower, hitherto concealed by the waving 

 corn, now appears in great force ; but still there is 

 an air of desolation about it which we cannot over- 

 look. We must therefore study the more carefully 

 the remaining flowers, in which almost every day 

 marks a diminution, and may appropriately select 

 for consideration in the present paper the British 

 members of the pretty genus Linaria. 



Fig. 108. 

 Toadflax, peloria form. 



Fig. 199- 

 Toadflax, normal flower. 



The common Snapdragon, or Bull's - mouth 

 (Antirrhinum majus), with its curiously-shaped 

 blossoms of various gay colours, is a plant with 

 which almost every one is familiar. The mouth of 

 the curious monopetalous corolla is closed by the 

 palate attached to the lower lip ; and it is only 

 when we press the back of the flower that it opens 

 and discloses the four white stamens, two long and- 

 two short, which tell us that the plant belongs to 

 the Linnean class Didynamia. The Toadflaxes, or 

 Linarise, much resemble the Snapdragon; indeed 

 the above-described corolla (technically termed per- 

 sonate) is among British plants confined to these 

 two genera; but the two are distinguished by the- 

 presence, in the species of Linaria, of a spur at the- 

 back of the corolla, which spur is wanting in the 

 species of Antirrhinum. 



We find, then, that our Toadflaxes agree in 



