THE VENOMS AND THEIR REMEDIES. 537 



prey on which it subsists, a large viper with a larger supply 

 for a larger animal ; and a small elaps with enough to kill its 

 little bird or mouse. There may be exceptions ; as, for 

 instance, in the CallopJiis intestinalis, whose glands are 

 abnormally developed, though it is not a large snake ; still 

 accidents or experiments rather go to prove that a viper is 

 more noxious than an elaps under similar conditions. 

 Fayrer proved the virulence oi Echis carinata, the little Indian 

 18-inch viper's poison, by diluting a quarter of a drop of its 

 venom in ten drops of water and injecting it into the leg of a 

 fowl, w^hich died in ten minutes ; while the same proportions 

 of cobra venom killed a fowl in thirty minutes. Nicholson 

 affirms that the Russell's viper can eject as much poison in 

 half a second as a cobra can in three seconds. But if the 

 viper be in a torpid condition, it might eject little or none. A 

 strong Daboia bit a feeble bull, which died ; but two feeble 

 Daboias bit a strong bull, which recovered. These latter 

 vipers were moulting, and their functions were inactive — 

 the bites feeble, perhaps. In fact, the conditions are so many 

 and great, that after all it is hazardous to form any definite 

 conclusion. Some notes of the effects on bitten animals, 

 taken at the Zoological Gardens while the snakes were being 

 fed, shall be faithfully recorded in the ensuing chapter. 



With regard to the many drugs used in various countries 

 for the cure of snake-bite, it is curious to note that, as a rule, 

 they are procured from the most deadly plants. As * like 

 cures like,' so poison cures poison. Most of them are 

 powerful stimulants, in which lies their chief virtue. Among 

 them are aristolocJiia^ opunn, ipecaaianha, soicga-root, guaco 

 or Iinaco, asdepias, liatris, euphorbia, polygala, opJiiorrJiiza, etc. 



