THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 123 



LECTURES. 



No. II.— ON THE NATURE AND CURE OF THE BITE OF SERPENTS AND 

 THE WOUNDS OF POISONED ARROWS. 



BY DR. DAVID BRAINARD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. 



Among the many points in which the science of the present clay sur- 

 passes the knowledge of past centuries, there is none more conspicuous 

 than that which relates to the nature, the effects, and the means of de- 

 tecting poisonous substances. 



To be convinced of this we have only to cast a glance at the state of 

 society in the latter part of the sixteenth century, the time of Charles 

 IX and Henry III, of France. 



At that period Italian manners and customs had been introduced into 

 France by Catharine de Medici, and with them the knowledge of those 

 poisons whose use, in Italy, had rendered the names of certain families 

 pre-eminent in the annals of infamy. 



The most -distinguished surgeon of the sixteenth century, Ambroise 

 Pare, has left us, in his works, a very curious account of the means re- 

 sorted to by the Italian perfumers to convey poisons in a manner which 

 should not be suspected. 



Pare was the surgeon of Charles IX, and, being a Protestant, was 

 saved from the massacre of St. Bartholomew, concealed in the cabinet 

 of the king in the palace of the Louvre, at the time when the signal for 

 the slaughter w^as sounded. 



The object of the monarch in saving his lite was to have the benefit 

 of his superior skill as a surgeon, and especially in the art of detecting 

 poisons and counteracting their effects. 



Pare states that poisons are, " b}^ the artifices and sublimations of 

 the wicked traitors, poisoners, and perfumers," deprived of their bitter 

 taste, and even rendered agreeable to the palate, while they are so con- 

 centrated as to prove fatal in a short time, and so subtle as to defy the 

 eff')rts of the most skillful to detect them. 



In relating the case of Pope Clement, who was poisoned by the 

 vapors of a torch, he says that flowers and odors of any kind were 

 often used to convey the fatal influence ; and that every prelate, bene- 

 ficed clergyman, or other person whose wealth or rank promised ad- 

 vantage to any who might compass his death, lived in constant dread 

 of poison. 



A whole chapter of his work on medicine and surgery is devoted to 

 the means of guarding against bemg poisoned. He advises the avoid- 

 ing of all sauces, and especially those which are sweet, salted, or in 

 any way pungent; and, in like manner, being thirsty, not to drink in 

 large draughts, or to eatgreedil}", but to consider well the taste ot what 

 is eaten or drunk. "Moreover, we should eat," says he, "those things 

 which break the force of venoms before each repast, and particularly a 

 fat soup made of good meat," and only take wine or other drinks after 

 having eaten. He counsels taking in the morning mithirstate or the- 

 riaca, with a little good wine or malvoisie, or the leaves of rue with a 



