[ 196 | 
animals, and M, Du Cnoisr, in 300 more, M. 
Bonnet confiders this treatment as. confirmed by 
Soo trials. Where it has failed, it is attributed to 
its being ufed too late, or to mifmanagement.* 
On the other! hand, M. Le Roux recites many 
Jamentable examples of the sinefficacy of mercury 
applied in the.ordinary way, even when carried to 
the point of deep falivation. Indeed, no inftance, ‘I 
believe, can be proce juced of fuccefs from mercurial 
frition, unlefs in thofe cafes recited by M. Bonne. 
and others, where the unguent was applied imme- 
diately to the wound. ‘3 
Oleaginous fubftances.—The ancient remedyagainft 
the bite of the viper was long confined to the fat’ of 
thar reptile, till it was at length difcovered that olive 
oil was equally efficacious—a circumftance fince well- 
known to viper-catchers, and confirmed by reiterated 
experiments. Whether. it aét bya fpecific power, 
or merely by invifcating the:poifon,-or otherwife de+ 
{troying its activity, matters not; the fact has always 
appeared to me interefting, and the analogy obvious. 
Whatever. fhare. of fuccefs the mercurial oimtment 
may have had in.counteratting the canine poifon, it 
has invariably been attributed to the mercury; but 
I have Jong fufpected it ought rather to have been 
afcribed to the oily quality of the lard, with which 
it is compounded, and which conttitutes two-thirds 
of the compofition. 
——— See == = > 
* See Mem. de l’Acad. de Med. a Paris, vol. vi. p. 280. 
