O F S E R P E N T S: 4i 



Kwg Mithridates coud not poifond jbe. 

 He drinking Poifon oft^ greiv-FoiJ on-free] 



After King Mithridates was vanqiiiHi'd, Cneus Pornpeius 

 found in his Clofet the following Receipt, againfl Poifon, writ 

 with his own Hand, in this Manner, viz. 



TAKE tivo dry Walnut-kernels, as many Figs^ of Rue twenty 

 Leaves, ftamp all thefe together ijito one Mafs, with a Grain of Salt, 



Under this Receipt was "wxii'-^Whoever eats this ConfeSllon 



in the Morning fajiing, no Poifon fiall hurt him that Day *. In 

 America, where Lizards are very good, they eat them, and fo 

 large, that one Lizard is enough to fatisfy four Men. 'Tis very 

 probable that they were eaten in Arabia and yudea, fince Mofes 

 ranks them among the unclean Creatures -f. 



Though the Flefh of venemous Creatures be nutrimenta!, 

 and eaten with a good Relifli, in many Places, yet it mufl: be al- 

 low'd our old Historiographers in fome Things hyperboliz-e upon 

 the Subjedl. Thus Avicenna, the great Arabian Dodor, and 

 others, /peak of a young Maid, who was fed v/ith the Flelli of 

 poifonous Creatures, from her tender Age ; by which her Breath 

 became venemous to thofe who flood by her. And thus Porus, 

 a certain Lidian King, is faid to ufe Poifon every Day, that he 

 might kill others. It is a known Hiftory, adds he, of a young 

 Woman, fed with Poifon, with which the Perjian Kings deftroy'd 

 whom they pleas'd. 



A D D to this another traditional Opinion, viz. that fome parti- 

 cular Perfons have an evil Eye, which affedts Children and Cattle 5 

 yea, that fome have this unhappy Faculty, tho' at the fame Time 

 void of any ill Defign. This has been an old Tradition, as ap- 

 pears from that of the Poet J. 



O N the Mountains of Ceylon in the Eaji-Indies, are Serpents 

 offuch vaftSize, that they fwallow young Cattle : Their Flefh is 

 very delicate, and has a moft pleafing Tafle -, therefore is very 

 much eaten. 



G This 



* FUny\ Natural Hifl. Tom. ii. B. 23. t Cahnet in verbum — Ukronym. contra 

 Jo'vmtan. lib. ii. % Nefcio quii teneros oculm mibi fafcinat a^nos. See Marti?^ 

 on the Weftern Iflands, p. 122, 123. 



