66 ESSAYS. 
visit to the other principal summit, where we found nothing 
that we had not already collected, excepting Arenaria glabra, 
Michx., and descended partly by way of the contiguous Yel- 
low Mountain. . 
Retracing our steps, we returned the next day to the foot 
of Grandfather, and reached our quarters at Jefferson the 
second day after. We had frequently been told of an anti- 
dote to the bite of the Rattlesnake and Copperhead (not un- 
frequent throughout this region), which is thought to possess 
wonderful efficacy, called Thurman’s Snake-root after an “ In- 
dian Doctor,” who first employed it; the plant was brought to 
us by a man who was ready to attest its virtues from his per- 
sonal knowledge, and proved to be the Silene stellata / Its use 
was suggested by the markings of the root beneath the bark, 
in which these people find a fancied resemblance to the skin 
of the Rattlesnake. Nearly all the reputed antidotes are 
equally inert; such herbs as Jmpatiens pallida, ete., being 
sometimes employed; so that we are led to conclude that the 
bite of these reptiles is seldom fatal, or even very dangerous, 
in these cooler portions of the country. 
About the foot of the Roan and Grandfather we obtained 
et margines ciliati, subsessilia, infra saturate glauca. Racemi 5-10- 
flori, sepe corymbosi, ad apicem ramulorum anni precedentis solitarii vel 
aggregati. Bacce immature cerulee, glauce, limbo calycis majusculo 
coronatz, decem- (nune abortu quinque ?) loculares ; loculis pleio-(3-6 ?) 
spermis. 
Professor Dunal (in DC. Prodr. 7, p. 566) notices as an extraordinary 
exception to the character of Vaccinium, a species with an 8-10-celled fruit 
and a single (?) seed in each cell. The first-named character is not un- 
frequent in the genus : several of the more common species which I have 
eursorily examined, exhibit a more or less completely 8-10-celled ovary, 
but with many ovules in each cell. There is a small group, however 
[ Decachena, Torr. & Gray ined.], presenting a different structure, which 
is best exemplified in V. resinosum, Ait. The 10 carpels of this species, 
inclosed in the baccate calyx, are very slightly coherent with each other, 
and become crustaceous or bony nuts, each containing a single ascending 
seed. The same is the case in what I take to be V. dumosum and VJ. hir- 
tellum ; and probably in some other species which have the leaves 
sprinkled with resinous dots. V.frondosum, Willd. (which is the V. de- 
camerocarpon of Dunal), is similar in structure, except that the carpels 
appear to be more coherent and less indurated. 
