POISON OP the i;\ttu>\\ke. 103 



the immediate objecl <>f my own experiments. It must be 

 here repeated thai the Hieraceum venosum is nol offered as 

 a specific cure fur the bite of the Rattlesnake: much further 

 observation is requisite to establish its claims in such high 

 virtues. It is proposed to continue the experiments on the 

 commencement of the approaching season, bul in the mean 

 while it was thought advisable to publish the present account 

 as the first of a series, in as much as several facts have been 

 elicited, which are considered very important by those who 

 witnessed the experiments. 



November Id, isjt. In company with a Dumber of pro- 

 fessional gentlemen, 1 visited the collection of living Rattle- 

 snakes* exhibiting by Messrs Elnsworth and Murray. The 

 reptiles, to the aumber of 150, were all taken by the pro- 

 prietors in their native county of Susquehanna. Pennsylva- 

 nia, during the current months of August and September. 

 The proprietors profess to be in possession of an infallible re- 

 medy for the cure of the symptoms resulting from the bite 

 of the Rattlesnake; they display the utmost confidence, and 

 are nn terms of intimate familiarity with every individual bl 

 the collection ; they lake them in their hands and fold them 

 around their Decks, — open the mouth of the snake, and exp 

 his fangs to the viru of tic visitors, ice. In order to sniisty 

 ourselves thai there existed no trick or deception in the case, 

 and to prove that the hite of these animals, in their presenl 

 stiiie of subjection, is really mortal, two living animals w,r. 

 exposed to be bitten, both of whom died within the sp;,.-, ,.| 

 eight minute-,. The first received a severe wound on the 

 breast, the snake fastening his fangs in the flesh ; immediately 

 the- '-yes of the animal i j rang cat) wire observed t<> 

 change their expression, lacking lustre, and appearing like 

 the eyes of an intoxicated person. En three minutes* after th< 

 infliction of tin wound, involuntary discharges per anum oc- 

 curred; in six minutes arine was also discharged. The pu- 



* Crotalus dui issus, Linn. 



