BITE or THE RATTLE-SNAKE. 1o¢ 
If, along with the ligature and the application of different 
ftimulants to the wounded part, they make ufe of various 
internal means, many of which are probably impotent, 
and fome of them, perhaps, pernicious, let us remember 
that even among the moft polifhed nations, where medi- 
cine is cultivated as a fcience, phyficians are accuftomed 
to adminifter many articles whofe effe& on the fyftem are 
known to be inconfiderable or ufelefs. 
The falt and gunpowder applied to the fcarified part 
ac powerfully by exciting a difcharge of blood, and.par- 
ticularly of the ferous part, fromthe wound; whilft the 
bark of the White-Waluut, already mentioned, which pof- 
feffes the evacuant power of cantharides, in no inconfidera- 
ble degree, contributes to the farther difcharge of this ferum, 
and along with it the poifon thrown in by the animal. : 
I do not know that any vegetable fubftance befides the 
bark of the White-Walnut is ever employed in thefe cafes 
asa blifter.. I know, indeed, that both the Indians and the 
white inhabitants of this country are acquainted with the 
bliftering property of other indigenous vegetables: fuch are 
the Common-Wintergreen (Pyrola rotundifolia, Lin.), fome 
{pecies of the genus Ranunculus, or Crow-foot, &c. In 
fome parts of Pennfylvania, the roots of the firft of thefe 
_ plants are pounded, and then applied to parts where it is 
required to raife a blifter. The roots of this Pyrolaare, 
however, principally ufed in rheumatick affections, and I 
have never heard of their being employed in cafes of the 
bites of venemous ferpents. I have heard of one inftance 
‘in which a blifter of cantharides was applied to the wound 
occafioned by a RATTLE-SNAKE, and was attended with 
the beft effea*. 
If the method of treating the bite of the RatTTLF- 
SNAKE which I have defcribed, is ever of fervice, it 
VOL. III. O is 
* Since I wrote the above, I have read, with no fmall degree of pleafure, that the bark of 
the Daphne Mezereum of Linnxus {the Commen-dMenerevn, or Spurge-Ojive) hasbeen applied to the 
wourd 
