BITE or vue RATTLE-SNAKE. ive 
ever, and when the fymptoms of a violent. aétion of the: 
heart and arteries take place, mercy may, perhaps, dic- 
tate tous the ufe of the lancet, with the view to mode 
rate this action. T fay nothing of the employment of the 
other parts of whatis called by phyficians the antiphlogif- 
tick treatment, asthe condition of the unhappy fufferer: 
will; in moft cafes, preclude the poffibility of it. 
I'fhould have been glad to have annexed to this imper- 
fe& paper, a more accurate’ account of the effets of the 
poifon of thé RATTLE-SNAKE, on the fyftem of man and 
other animals; and, likewife, an analyfis of this fingular 
fluid. The fubject is, certainly, a curious one, and one: 
the minute inveftigation of which would, probably, throw 
fome lights‘on the phyfiology of animals, whilf it would, 
no doubt, ultimately tend to the eftablifhment of a: more 
certain mode of treating the bite of one of the moft formi- 
dable ferpents that has hitherto been difcovered in North- 
America. But fuch an inveftigation would require much 
time and patience, and, perhaps, I may add, a portion of 
fortitude. Fully imprefled with a fenfe of the richnels of 
the field, I mean to undertake the inquiry. Meanwhile, 
I fhalljuft obferve thatthe poifon of the RaTTLE-SNAKE 
1s generally of a yelowith, fomewhat greenith; colour, and 
that it changes to a darker hue with the heat of our feafons. 
During the period of the animal’s amours, the poifon is 
obferved to be of a much darker green than at any other 
time, and itis certain that itis now alfoof a much more ative 
and deleterious nature.. Whether this increafe of activity 
depends on the procreative’ paffion of the animal, or whether 
itis not merely a confequence of the heat of the feafon, I. 
fhall not decide, at prefent. 
From the facts and obfervations which I have fubmitted 
to the Society, it appears that, in many cafes, the pre- 
vention of the deleterious’ effeéts of the poifon of the 
RAaTTLE-SNAKE, may be accomplifhed by means which. 
are. 
