July 9. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



39 



seigneurs, afin que I'avocatie ne solt pas de leur race, 

 et qu'apres la mort de Kucntza, qui en etoit abbesse, 

 et a qui le Pape avoit donue la benudlction abbatiale, 

 les religieuses choisissent de leur communaute, ou 

 d'ailleurs, celle qui leur paroitra la plus pvopre, re- 

 servant toujours au Pape le droit de la benir. Et en 

 reconnaissance d'un privilege si singulier, I'abbesse 

 donnera tous les ans au Saint Siege une Rose d'Or du 

 poids de deux onces Romaines. Elle I'envoyera toute 

 faite, ou en envoyera la matiere preparee, de telle sorte 

 qu'elle soit rendue au Pape huit jours auparavant qu'il 

 la porte, c'est-a-dire, le Dimanche de Careme, oil I'on 

 chante a I'lntroite, 'Oculi mei semper ad Dominum ;' 

 afin qu'il puisse benir au Dimanche ' Laetare,' qui est 

 le quatrieme du Careme. Telle est I'origine de la 

 Kose d'Or, que le Pape benit encore aujourd'liui le 

 quatrieme Dimanche de Careme, nomme ' Laetare,' et 

 qu'il envoye a quelque prince pour marque d'estime 

 et de bienveillance. Ce jour-la, la station se fait a 

 Sainte Croix de Jerusalem. Le PapC; accompagne des 

 cardinaux, vetus de couleur de rose, marche en caval- 

 cade a I'eglise, tenant la Rose d'Or a la main. II la 

 porte, allant a I'autel, charg^ de baume et de mare. II 

 la quitte au ' Confiteor,' et la reprendapres 'I'lntroite.' 

 II en fait la Benediction, et apres I'Evangile, il monte 

 en chaise et explique les proprietes de la rose. Apres 

 la Messe il retourne en cavalcade a son palais, ayant 

 toujours la Rose en main et la couronne sur la tete. On 

 appelle ce Dimanche ' Pascha rosata,' ou ' Lastare.' 



" Nous avons encore un sermon du Pape Inno- 

 cent III., compose en cette occasion, au commence- 

 ment du treizleme siecle. Le Pape Nicholas IV., en 

 moo, dans le denombrement qu'il fait des eglises 

 qui doivent des redevances a I'eglise de Rome, met le 

 nionastcre de Sainte Croix, diocese de Basle, qui doit 

 deux onces d'or pour la Rose d'Or, qui se benit au 

 Dimanche LeEtere, Jerusalem." 



P. P. P. 



NOTES ON SERPENTS. 



(Vol. ii., p. 130.; Vol. vi., p. 177.— Vol. ili., p. 490.; 

 Vol. vi., pp. 42. 147.) 



Loskiel, in his account of the Moravian missions 

 to the North American Indians *, tells us that, — 



" The Indians are remarkably skilled in curing the 

 bite of venomous serpents, and have found a medicine 

 peculiarly adapted to the bite of each species. For 

 example, the leaf of the Rattlesnake-root (Polt/pala 

 senega) is the most efficacious remedy against the bite 

 of this dreadful animal. God has mercifully granted 

 it to grow in the greatest plenty in all parts most in- 

 fested by the rattlesnake. It is very remarkable that 

 this herb acquires its greatest perfection just at the time 

 when the bite of these serpents is the most dangerous. 

 ..... Virginian Snake- root (^Aristolochia serpentaria) 



* The title of this curious book is, Geschichte der 

 Mission del- evangelischen Briider tenter den Indianei-n in 

 Nordamerika, durch Georg H. Loskiel: Barby, 1789, 

 8vo., pp. 783. Latrobe's translation of this book was 

 published Lond. 1794. 



chewed, makes also an excellent poultice for wounds of 



this sort The fat of the serpent itself, rubbed 



into the wound, is thought to be efficacious. The 

 ilesh of the rattlesnake, dried and boiled to a broth, is 

 said to be more nourishing than that of the viper, and 

 of service in consumptions. Their gall is likewise used 

 as medicine." — P. 146. 



Pigs are excepted from the dreadful effects of 

 their bite ; they will even attack and eat them. It 

 is said that, if a rattlesnake is irritated and cannot 

 be revenged, it bites itself, and dies in a few hours : 



" Wird dieses Thier zornig gemacht, und es kann 

 sich nicht riichen, so beiszt es sich selbst, und in wenig 

 Stunden ist es todt." — P. 113.* 



" I have seen some of our Canadians eat these rattle- 

 snakes repeatedly. The flesh is very white, and they 

 assured me had a delicious taste. Their manner of 



dressing them is very simple Great caution, 



however, is required in killing a snake for eating; for 

 if the first blow fails, or only partially stuns him, he in- 

 stantly bites himself in different parts of the body, which 

 thereby become poisoned, and would prove fatal to any 

 person who should partake of it." — Cox's Adv. on the 

 Columbia River: Lond. 1832, p. 74. 



" Dr. Fordyce knew the black servant of an Indian 

 merchant in America, who was fond of soup made of 

 rattlesnakes, in which he always boiled the head along 

 with the rest of the animal, without any regard to the 

 poison." — Rees's Cyclopadia. 



" There is a religious sect in Africa, not far from. 

 Algiers, which eat the most venomous serpents alive ; 

 and certainly, it is said, without extracting their fangs. 

 They declare they enjoy the privilege from their 

 founder. Tlie creatures writhe and struggle between 

 their teeth ; but possibly, if they do bite them, the 

 bite is innocuous." 



Mrs. Crowe, in the concluding chapter of her 

 Night-side of Nature, gives the testimony of an 

 eye-witness to "the singular phenomenon to be 

 observed by placing a scorpion and a mouse to- 

 gether under a glass." 



" It is known that stags renew their age by eating 

 serpents ; so the phcenix is restored by the nest of 

 spices she makes to burn in. The pelican hath the 

 same virtue, whose right foot, if it be put under hot 

 dung, after three months a pelican will bo bred from 

 it. Wherefore some physicians, with some confections 

 made of a viper and hellebore, and of some of the flesh 

 of these creatures, do promise to restore youth, and some- 

 times they do it." ■(• 



On reading any of our old herbalists, one would 

 imagine that serpents (and those of the worst 

 kind) abounded in " Merrie Englande," and that 

 they were the greatest bane of our lives. It is 



* This reminds one of the notion respecting 

 " The scorpion girt with fire," 

 immortalised by Lord Byron's famous simile. 



f Eighteen Books of the Secrets of Art and Nature ; 

 being the Summe and Substance of NaturaU Fhilosophif 

 methodically digested: London, 1661. 



