REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 23 



year, as deduced from the average of twenty years, is the 18th of 

 January, and the warmest the loth of July. 



The mean annual amount of rain is 54.70 inches ; the month of the 

 greatest rain is April; of the least rain, September. 



The last paper in the twelfth volume of Contributions consists of an 

 account of researches upon the venom of the rattlesnake, with the 

 investigations of the anatomy and physiology of the organs concerned, 

 by S. Weir Mitchell, M. D. 



This paper gives an account of a series of investigations relative to 

 a subject which, from an almost instinctive aversion to venomous snakes 

 and the danger to which the student is exposed, has received compara- 

 tively little attention. With the exception of the essays of Barton 

 and Brainard, the literature of this subject in this country has been 

 confined to scattered notices and incomplete statements of cases found 

 in the pages of numerous medical journals, and, indeed, if we except 

 a few works of Europe and India, in no part of the world has modern 

 science done much to further this inquiry. 



The author first gives an account of his observations on the habits 

 of the rattlesnake when in captivity. From ten to thirty-five snakes 

 were kept together in the same box without exhibiting the slightest 

 signs of hostility to one another. Even when snakes were suddenly 

 dropped upon their fellows no attempt was made to annoy the new 

 comers, while the intrusion of a pigeon or a rabbit immediately roused 

 the reptiles when they were in vigorous health. The habits of this 

 snake in confinement are singularly inactive. In warm weather, when 

 least sluggish, they lie together in a knotted mass, occasionally changing 

 their position, and then relapsing into a state of perfect rest. This 

 sluggish condition is dangerously deceptive, since it gives no indication 

 of the rapidity of their motion when aroused. This reptile seldom 

 eats in captivity. The author has kept one alive for a year without 

 food, and though he made every effort to tempt the snakes to eat, he 

 has never seen them disposed to avail themselves of food when placed 

 within their reach. Some of them were forcibly fed by placing milk 

 and insects in their throats, yet when even this precaution was not 

 taken, provided the snakes had water, they continued healthful, and 

 secreted a large amount of venom. 



The author's observations add nothing 'towards confirming, the idea 

 of the disputed power of fascination in the snake. Birds, guinea-pigs, 

 mice, and dogs, put into the cage generally exhibited no terror after 

 the alarm had subsided occasioned by having been dropped into the 

 box. The small birds soon became singularly familiar with the snakes, 



