140 BRITISH SERPENTS. 



the fat being cut out of the adder immediately after 

 the bite has occurred (presuming, of course, that the 

 adder was killed), and forthwith applied to the wound. 

 In some parts of Surrey, I am told, the shepherds 

 always carry a bottle of adder-oil to apply to any 

 sheep that may be bitten. The application of sweet- 

 oil to the bite, or its internal administration, is often 

 to be found recommended, the idea being that the oil 

 is supposed to have some power of preventing the ab- 

 sorption of the venom. Personally, I should not like 

 to depend on the efficacy of oil to counteract the effect 

 of a poison which has been injected directly into the 

 circulation ; and oil is one of the things I dispense with 

 on an adder-hunt, though I do like to have a sharp lance 

 and some powerful stimulant at hand. In some parts 

 of Scotland quite a different method of cure is trusted 

 to, based on more Scriptural grounds. This plan is 

 mentioned in a paper read by the Rev. George 

 Williams, Perthshire, on December 17, 1900, before 

 the Stirling Natural History Society. He there says : 

 " The Moss of Boquhapple is a favourite nursery for 

 adders. A man having been bitten by one of these 

 poisonous animals, John Marshall (who died a few 

 months ago) was instantly despatched to fetch a live 

 figeon. The bird was torn to pieces, and the warm 

 flesh was applied to the wound to extract the venom ; 

 because the flesh of the gentle dove is totallv antagon- 

 istic to the poisonous bite of the viper's brood — an 

 exception to the old medical principle, ' similia simili- 



