124 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF 



nut and dried figs, which, he adds, " are remedies of singular effi- 

 ciency." And "let not those who have a suspicion of having been 

 poisoned, sleep; for the force of the venom is sometimes so great, so 

 contrary to nature, that it exerts its power, and its effect in the body is 

 like that of fire in dried straw." 



"The true way to avoid poisoned perfumes," he adds, in conclud- 

 ing, "is never to smell them; to fly such perfumers as you would the 

 plague, drive them out of the kingdom of France, and send them among 

 Turks and infidels." 



Modern science has revealed the nature of these poisons so subtle, 

 so mysterious, and so dreaded. 



The torch of chemistry has explored the secret chambers of those 

 "wicked poisoners and perfumers." 



Armed with its light the law is enabled to cast a shield around every 

 individual, and give to the humblest a consciousness of safety which, 

 in Ibrmer times, the most powerful could not enjoy. 



But science in this respect is not yet perfect. There are still sub- 

 stances mysterious, subtle, and dangerous, for which neither tests nor 

 antidotes have been discovered. Many of the savage tribes of America 

 possess the art, unknown to civilized man, of imbuing their weapons 

 with a substance so deadly that a slight wound from one of them is 

 dangerous, if not fatal. 



The venom of serpents, the smallest drop of which brought in con- 

 tact with the blood in the system is fatal, cannot be distinguished by 

 chemical tests from the most harmless mucus or saliva. 



There is reason to believe that this venom is sometimes employed 

 by man; that he arms himself with the substance bestowed by Provi- 

 dence on the serpent for its defence, and uses it for the purpose of pro- 

 curing subsistence or satisfying his destructive instincts. 



Otthe serpents which are furnished witli this poison, the most com- 

 mon and dangerous is the crotalus, or rattlesnake, several varieties of 

 which are found in the western and southern States of the Union, 

 where they constitute an object of dread, and a source of danger to 

 the first settlers of the country. 



The rattlesnake derives its name from the peculiar structure of its 

 tail, on wliich are arranged a number of rings called the rattle, with 

 which a sound is made not unlike the buzzino: of the wino;s of certain 

 insects. The number of these rings increases with its age; but it is 

 not certain that they correctly indicate the number of years it has 

 lived. 



The rattle is generally sounded whenever the serpent is angry, so 

 that those familiar with the noise may avoid the danger; but in many 

 instances the wound is inflicted without any warning being given. 



The rattle itself is to be regarded as a means of defence in addition 

 to the fangs and venom ; for the peculiar note which it produces is ter- 

 rifying to most animals, and they shrink from it with instinctive lear. 



It seems to have been regarded by some of the aboriginal inhabi- 

 tants of America as highly ornamental, for it is one of the objects which 

 the natives of central America have most frequently represented in the 

 carvings of stone with which they decorated the front of their temples. 



The apparatus by which this serpent inflicts a wound and deposits 



