74 OUR REPTILES. 



be remembered, in connection with these instances, 

 that the reptile which is regarded as the common 

 viper in France is the Asp, and not the same species 

 as that which occurs in Britain, whilst our Viper, 

 not uncommon also, is called the Little Viper. The 

 former of these is doubtless more venomous than 

 the latter. 



It may be of interest to record here the experi- 

 ences of a sufferer from the bite of a viper, and the 

 mode of treatment resorted to : — 



The viper was very sluggish ; but on touching it and en- 

 deavouring to take it by the neck, as I had done before, it struck 

 at me, and bit my left forefinger. I immediately threw it down 

 and stamped upon it, and sucked the place, cutting it with a 

 knife, and putting ammonia to it. Meanwhile, my brother went 

 for the doctor, and before he came I began to feel very faint, and 

 inclined to vomit. When he came, he cut two incisions in the 

 finger, and tied it up at the root, putting it into as hot water as 

 I could bear. He also made me drink a quantity of ammonia 

 and water, and then go to bed. The finger was very painful, 

 and bled for a long time, and I was very feverish. The next day 

 I got up, but was very weak, and there was a green mark all up 

 from my finger, which was very large, to my left sid^, ard all up 

 my arm. The mark as far as the side was in a narrow line, but 

 at the side it was in a large blotch. My finger was poulticed, 

 and I had a cushion, dipped in water in which broken poppy - 

 heads had been boiled, placed between my arm and side. The 

 arm was much swelled, and I soon went to bed again. The next 

 day I got up agaiD, and from thence began rapidly to get well, 

 and in a week had my arm out of a sling, and my finger almost 

 well. I was perfectly well by the day fortnight on which the 

 bite occurred. These facts are, I need hardly say, perfectly 

 true, and the more remarkable because olive oil was not used 

 at all.* 



* Science Gossip, vol. i., p. 160. 



