THE VIPER. 181 



ers of Divine vengeance upon mankind j for enormous crimes which 

 had escaped the course of justice* An instance of such an opinion 

 as this, we have in the history of Paul (Acts xxviii.), whom the 

 people of Melita, when they saw the viper leap upon his hand, 

 concluded to be a murderer, and as readily made a god of him ; when, 

 instead of having his hand inflamed, or fallen down dead, he, with* 

 out any harm, shook the reptile into the fire; it being obvious 

 enough to imagine, that he must stand in a near relation, at least, 

 to the gods themselves, who could thus command the messengers 

 of their vengeance, and counterwork the effects of such powerful 

 agents. 



The prophet Isaiah mentions the viper among the venomous rep- 

 tiles which, in extraordinary numbers, infested the land of Egypt, 

 ch. xxx. 6. In illustrating the mischievous character of wicked 

 men, and the ruinous nature of sin, he thus alludes to this danger- 

 ous creature again : ' They hatch cockatrice eggs, and weave the 

 spider's web : he that eateth of their eggs dieth ; and that which 

 is crushed breaketh out into a viper.' The cockatrice here, says 

 Paxton, undoubtedly means the viper 5 for the egg of one creature 

 never produces, by any management, one of a different species. 

 When the egg is crushed, the young viper is disengaged, and leaps 

 out prepared for mischief. It may be objected, that the viper is not 

 an oviparous, but a viviparous animal ; and that, consequently, the 

 prophet must refer to some other creature. But it is to be remem- 

 bered, that although the viper brings forth its young alive, they are 

 hatched from eggs perfectly formed in the belly of the mother. 

 Hence, Pliny says of it, * The viper alone of all terrestrial animals, pro- 

 duces within itself an egg of an uniform color, and soft like the eggs 

 or roe of fishes.' This curious natural fact reconciles the statement 

 of the sacred writer with the truth of natural history. If by any 

 means the egg of the viper be separated from the body, the phe- 

 nomenon which the prophet mentions, may certainly take place. 

 Father Labat took a serpent of the viper kind, and ordered it to be 

 opened in his presence. In its womb were found six eggs, each 

 of the size of a goose's egg, and containing from thirteen to fifteen 

 young ones, about six inches long, and as thick as a goose quill. 

 They were no sooner liberated from their prison-house, than they 

 crept about, and put themselves into a threatening posture, coiling 

 themselves up, and biting the stick with which he was destroying 

 them. Those contained in one of the eggs escaped at the place 

 where the female was killed, by the bursting of the egg, and their 

 getting among the bushes. 



In Genesis xlix. 17, the dying patriarch compares the Danites to 

 the shephiphon, probably the CERASTES; a serpent of the viper kind, 

 of a light brown color, which lurks in the sand, and in the tracks 

 of wheels in the road, and unexpectedly bites the legs of animals 

 as they pass along. 



To the depraved hearts and malignant dispositions of the Scribes 

 and Pharisees, both our Saviour and John the Baptist allude, in 

 16 



