322 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



America that a dog which has been bitten by a rattle- 

 snake always grows young snakes in his liver. Dr. 

 Bond of Philadelphia, on whose authority I am telling 

 this, made sport of a farmer who declared it to be so. 

 The matter came to a wager. A dog was to be three 

 times bitten by a snake and then, after some time, to 

 be killed. Dr. Bond and several other gentlemen were 

 invited out to see. There was plainly observed on 

 the dog an unnatural swelling in the region of the 

 liver. The body was opened and, to the astonishment 

 of the Doctor and of those present, in the superficies 

 of the liver a worm was found at least I and a half 

 feet long, and of the thickness of a little ringer ; sev- 

 eral others a foot long and 6-7 still smaller. It was said 

 that they showed a resemblance to the snake, but un- 

 fortunately they were not preserved. A second time 

 the same man sent to Philadelphia a dog bitten by a 

 snake. Dr. Bond opened, this one also, in the pres- 

 ence of several savans and physicians, and the same 

 kind of worms was found in the same part of the liver. 

 But nothing was done further to determine the nature 

 of these worms, the existence of which may have been 

 due to anything rather than to the snake-bite. 



Among the snake-species often appearing in the 

 mountains as well as in the low country are : a Viper, 

 so-called here, (Coluber, scut abdom. 120-25 squam 

 subcaud. 50-53.) It is in length two feet and more. 

 The head and back are blackish-brown with whitish- 

 yellow spots some distance apart, passing into black 

 at the sides. The belly is yellowish-white with irregu- 

 lar blackish touches. Its habitat is in thick bush or in 

 gardens. Its bite is held to be poisonous. If it is 

 vexed, or in the act of striking, its cylindrically round 



