SECRET METHODS OF CURE. 209 
however, that the reptile has not eaten any food in the mean- 
time, in which. case the gall-bladder will be found nearly or 
quite empty. 
Many experiments with this substance combined with alco- 
hol, in widely different proportions of each ingredient, have 
led me to adopt the following as the method of preparation 
which has proven itself most efficacious in a great number of 
cases : 
Proportion: one drop of pure gall to ten drops of as pure 
alcohol, or high wines, or spirits of wine, as can be procured. 
- The mixture must be thoroughly shaken, and allowed to 
stand for a couple of days, when a lead-colored sediment will 
have deposited itself; the supernatant liquid can be poured 
off carefully into a perfectly clean, new vial, using a bit of 
sponge in the neck of a small funnel to filter it, when it is 
ready for use. 
Never mix galls of different species. 
Have the vials distinctly labelled. 
The galls of the Centipede, Tarantula, Scorpion, and Cricket 
can be separated by bruising the insect in a small quantity of 
alcohol, allowing it to stand for twenty-four hours, and filter- 
ing as above mentioned. Each one of these may be used for 
the bite of the insect, that of the Cricket being a common 
remedy in some places for a suspension of the urine. 
I have used these preparations of snakes’ galls topically in 
all cases of cuts, flesh wounds, or abrasions, either by poison- 
ous thorns or otherwise, and also in cases of poisoning of the 
surface of the skin by vegetable poisons; the cure is always 
prompt, and no inflammation supervenes. 
It has been said that the gall of the alligator applied topi- 
cally will remove a cataract ; many persons suppose that this 
is the remedy employed by the famous charlatan Perdomo 
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