POISON-SNAKES. 207 



slit. Tlie manner in which the blow is inflicted 

 is as follows. The animal throws itself in the 

 first place into a coil more or less close, and the 

 anterior part of the body is raised. The neck is 

 bent somewhat abruptly backwards, and the head 

 fixed almost horizontally. In an instant, the 

 head is, as it were, launched by a sudden effort 

 towards the object of its anger, and the erected 

 tooth struck into it, and withdrawn with the 

 velocity of thought. It is found by experiment, 

 that the effect of subsequent wounds is greatly 

 diminished either by the diminution of the quan- 

 tity of venom, or by some deterioration of its 

 strength : so that if a venomous Serpent be made 

 repeatedly to inflict wounds, without allowing 

 sufficiently long intervals for it to recover its 

 powers, each successive bite becomes less and 

 less efiective. A gentleman of my acquaintance 

 had some years since received a living Rattle- 

 snake from America. Intending to try the effects 

 of its bite upon some rats, he introduced one of 

 these animals into the cage with the Serpent ; 

 it immediately struck the rat, which died in two 

 minutes. Another rat was then placed in the 

 cage ; it ran to the part of the cage farthest from 

 the Serpent, uttering cries of distress. The 

 Snake did not immediately attack it ; but after 

 about half an hour, and on being irritated, it 

 struck the rat, which did not exhibit any symp- 

 toms of being poisoned for several minutes, and 

 died twenty minutes after the bite. A third and 

 remarkably large rat was then introduced into 

 the cage : it exhibited no signs of terror at its 

 dangerous companion, which, on its part, appeared 

 to take no notice of the rat. After watching for 



