LEAVES FROM THE NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 



73 



against the bite of those reptiles. Relying on its 

 efficacy, they suffered themselves to be bitten, and 

 would let the symptoms go on till they became 

 absolutely dangerous, or, as they said, till the poi- 

 son was gaining on their heart, and then swallow- 

 ing draughts of the oil and rubbing the wounded 

 limb with it over a chafing-dish of coals, became 

 perfectly cured. The better opinion latterly seems 

 to have been that the embrocation was the efficient 

 part of the process, and that the oil which was 

 swallowed did little if anything towards the cure. 

 It is true that, in consequence of the account in 

 Phil. Trans. (No. 443,) of an experiment, in 

 which it was said that common oil rubbed into the 

 wound had cured the bite of a viper, the physi- 

 cians of the French Academy are said to have 

 made several trials of the oil with all possible 

 care, and they pronounced it to be ineffectual ex- 

 cept as a fomentation to the swollen part. 



Notwithstanding this concurrence of opinion, 

 the viper-catchers of the latter part of the last 

 century used olive-oil as an infallible remedy, and 

 I have myself seen it exhibited in the case of a dog 

 which was severely bitten in the leg by one of 

 these serpents. The oil may be a specific against 

 the bite of the common viper only ; for it should 

 be remembered that Linnaeus, when in Scania, was 

 applied to by a woman who had been bitten by a 

 Chersea. He administered the oil according to 

 the prescribed forms. But the poor woman died 

 in the greatest agonies. This remedy seems, 

 however, to be effectual against the acrid exuda- 

 tions which emanate from the pustules of a toad. 

 White relates that a quack ate one of those rep- 

 tiles at Selborne to make the country people stare, 

 and that afterwards he drank oil. 



But Dr. Mead was a physician deserving of all 

 confidence, and we shall see that even in his mode 

 of treatment the oil is not discarded. 



The doctor then tells us that " the first thing 

 to be done upon the bite of a viper of any kind is, 

 that the patient should suck the wound himself, 

 if he can come at it ; if he cannot, another per- 

 son should do this good office for him. Whoever 

 does it, ought (to prevent any inflammation of the 

 lips and tongue, from the heat of the poison) to 

 wash his mouth well beforehand with warm oil, 

 and hold some of this in the mouth while the 

 suction is performing." 



After this he prescribes an emetic, (Rod. Ipe- 

 cacuan.,) "encouraged in the working with oil 

 and warm water." 



This is conformable, as he observes, to the 

 practice of the Virginian Indians, who were said 

 to cure the bite of the rattlesnake by sucking the 

 wound, and taking immediately a large quantity 

 of a decoction of the rattlesnake root, which acts as 

 a strong emetic, and laying to the part the same 

 root chewed. Piso states that the Indians use as 

 remedies against the bite of that snake and others, 

 the crushed head of the serpent applied as a 

 plaster to the wound, round which they place the 

 green leaves of the tobacco plant. 



Celsus recommends the application of dry salt 



to the wound ; and this Dr. Mead thinks promises 

 somewhat more than the cautery, but not much. 

 The so-called virtues of the celebrated Oriental 

 snake-stones, said to be taken from the head of the 

 cobra de capello, are mere fallacies. 



This (says Dr. Mead) Signor Redi, Monsieur 

 Charas, and myself have experienced. They will, 

 indeed, when applied, stick to the wound for some 

 time ; being, as appears from their make, not 

 natural but factitious bodies, compounded most 

 probably of calcined bones and some testaceous 

 substances mixed together ; but when they drop 

 off, are found to have imbibed nothing of the 

 venom. 



The remedy of the viper-catchers, long kept by 

 them a close secret, finds greater favor in the eyes 

 of the doctor. Depending upon their specific, 

 those employed in this trade, which in the days 

 of viper-broth and viper-wine was very brisk, 

 were no more afraid of a bite than of a common 

 puncture, curing themselves immediately by the 

 application of the axungia vipcrina to the wound, 

 and to this day viper's fat boiled down is con- 

 sidered in some countries equally infallible ; thus, 

 as in the case of applying the crushed head of the 

 serpent to the wound that it had made, exhibiting 

 the union of the bane and the antidote in the same 

 offending body. 



Dr. Mead enraged a viper and caused it to bite 

 a dog in the nose. Both teeth were struck deep 

 in. The dog howled bitterly, and the part began 

 to swell. The doctor diligently applied the 

 axungia, and next day the dog was very well. 



But, unfortunately for this poor dog, some of 

 the sceptical gentlemen who saw the experiment 

 ascribed the cure more to the dog's saliva admin- 

 istered in licking himself, than to the virtue of 

 the fat. So he was bit again in the tongue and 

 the remedy withheld. He died within four or five 

 hours. The doctor made at another time a like 

 trial with the same success. 



As this axungia (says Dr. Mead) consists of 

 clammy and viscid parts, which are withal more 

 penetrating and active than most oily substances ; 

 so these, without all doubt, may, if immediately 

 applied, involve and, as it were, sheathe the volatile 

 salts of the venomous liquor, and thus prevent their 

 shooting out into those crystalline spicula which 

 we have observed to be the main instruments of 

 that deadly mischief that attends the bite. But 

 even this cure ought not to be relied on. 'Tis 

 safest to use the method we have mentioned ; and, 

 moreover, if the patient feels any sickness, faint- 

 ness, or any of the. nervous symptoms we have 

 described, he must be put into bed, and a sweat 

 must be promoted by cordial medicines, particu- 

 larly the Confect. Ralegh, and the salt of vipers, 

 or, in want of this, salt of hartshorn, given in 

 warm wine. I have often experienced the good 

 effects of this proceeding ; and, after all the pre- 

 tensions of the cure by oil, in the case newly 

 related, the man was really not recovered without 

 these means. 



And so stands the case ; animal fat versus 

 vegetable oil. The former may, as the doctor 

 says, be more penetrating ; and we know that the 



