224? OPHIDIA. — VIPERADiE. 



his arm was again bathed, over a pan of charcoal, 

 and rubbed with salad oil, heated in a ladle 

 over the charcoal, by Dr. Mortimer's direction, 

 who was the physician that drew up the account. 

 From tliis last operation he declared that he 

 found immediate ease, as though by some charm : 

 he soon after fell into a profound sleep, and, 

 after about nine hours' sound rest, aWaked about 

 six the next morning, and found himself very 

 well ; but in the afternoon, on drinking some 

 rum and strong beer, so as to be almost in- 

 toxicated, the swelling returned, with much 

 pain and cold sweats, which abated soon, on 

 bathing the arm as before, and wrapping it up 

 in brown paper soaked in the oil." 



The medicinal virtues supposed to reside in 

 the flesh of the Viper are now known to be 

 apocryphal : as late as the last century, however, 

 they were sufficiently credited to cause a demand 

 for these reptiles in the shoj^s of apothecaries. 

 Many persons were thus encouraged to practise 

 the art of viper-catching as a means of living, 

 who sometimes caught the reptile with a pair 

 of wooden tongs, and at others with a forked 

 stick, which being driven down upon the neck 

 secured the head, while the operator seizing the 

 end of the tail, suddenly threw the animal into 

 a bag. A curious story is told of the alarm 

 produced in the house of an apothecary of the 

 old school, by the escape of a whole collection 

 of Vipers from the ill-closed box in which they 

 arrived. Among other terrors resultant, a great 

 black one was discovered coiled up between the 

 sheets of one of the beds, just as its occupant 

 was about to step into it. 



