226 LEAVES EROM THE 



Under a microsco})ej at first sight I could discover notliing but a 

 parcel of small salts nimbly floating in the liquor ; but in a very 

 short time the appearance was changed, and these saline particles 

 were now shot out, as it were, into crystals of an incredible tenuity and 

 sharpness, with something like knots here and there, from which 

 they seemed to proceed ; so that the whole texture did, in a manner, 

 represent a spider's web, though infinitely finer and more minute ; 

 and yet withal so rigid were these pellucid spicula or darts, that 

 they remained unaltered upon my glass for several months. 



Redi found that the dried poison, when dikited with 

 water, was still active and deleterious. 



But terrible as is the effect of the attack of these cruel 

 scourges, the bite and the instillation of the poison into a 

 wound are the only things to be dreaded : — 



Morsu virus habent, et fatum dente minantur : 

 Pocula morte careut. 



Tozzi, a viper-charmer, astonished the Grand Duke 

 Ferdinand and the natural philosophers who were pre- 

 sent with him, who had been speaking of the certain 

 death which would await any person who might swallow 

 the poison of the viper by mistake, instead of spirits of 

 wine or water, by boldly drinking a considerable portion 

 of it. They all looked for his instant decease, but he 

 was no more affected than he would have been by taking 

 so much water. 



Dr. Mead relates a similar experiment : — 



We resolved to end our poison inquiries by tasting the venomous 

 liquor. Accordingly, having diluted a quantity of it with a very 

 little warm water, several of us ventured to put some of it upon 

 the tip of our tongues. We all agreed that it tasted very sharp 

 and fiery, as if the tongue had been struck through with something 

 scalding or burning. This sensation went not off" in two or three 

 hours; and one gentleman, who would not be satisfied without 

 trying a large drop undiluted, found his tongue swelled with a 

 little inflammation, and the soreness lasted two days. But neither 

 his nor our boldness was attended with any ill conseqvience. 



Those who make such experiments, as well as those 

 who suck wounds occasioned by the bite of venomous 



