500 



REPTILE. 



the species, the condition of the aiiimul at the time of 

 its infusing the poison, and also with the part of the 

 body upon which the wound is inflicted. If the poi- 

 son is introduced into a vessel of any considerable 

 size, death, even in a large animal, very speedily 

 ensues, especially if the reptile is in a very healthy 

 and vigorous condition, and has not been using its 

 fangs for some time previous. A puncture in a part 

 where there is no large vessel is not so speedily, 

 mortal, but it is attended with far greater pain and 

 suffering to the unhappy victim. Even if there is a 

 recovery from an inoculation of this kind, very un- 

 pleasant symptoms are felt for a considerable time 

 after the accident. 



As the consequences of these inoculations are 

 often of the most distressing kind, and valuable lives 

 are often perilled by them in a moment when such a 

 casualty is the least apprehended, remedies for them 

 have always been highly desirable, and many have 

 been proposed. Such as are always at hand, and can 

 be promptly and easily applied, are of course the 

 most valuable ; because the poison gets so soon dif- 

 fused over the system, so as to defy not only all local 

 but all genera! means of relief, that the utmost expe- 

 dition is necessary. It has been proposed to cut 

 down upon the part to a greater depth than the fangs 

 have entered, and to cut freely. Then instantly upon 

 the incision being made, to apply the mouth and suck 

 out the natural fluids and the poison together. In 

 preparing to do this it is much more valuable to divide 

 the veins and other returning vessels than those 

 which carry the fluids from the centre of the system, 

 because it is by the former that the poison most 

 speedily reaches the vital parts and affects the whole 

 system. The sucking may be performed without any 

 danger, if no part of the interior of the mouth is 

 wounded, for these animal poisons are perfectly harm- 

 less when applied to the unbroken integuments. If 

 there were no sore or broken skin upon the hands, we 

 might wash them in the poison of the most deadly 

 serpent with as much safety as (hey could be washed 

 in water. . Another topical means of preventing the 

 poison from getting into the system is to bind 

 the part so firmly with a ligature as to cut off all 

 connexion between it-and the body. Of course this 

 can be adopted only when the bitten- part is one to 

 which a ligature can be applied, and unless the ap- 

 plication is instantly made it has but little chance of 

 success. In extreme cases, however, it is desirable 

 that every remedy which has the slightest chance of 

 success should be applied. Ammonia has also beqn 

 recommended both externally and internally ; in the 

 latter case to bear up the system against the feelings 

 of horror and prostration which the poison produces. 

 Caustic potass has also been recommended as a topi- 

 cal application ; and many vegetable substances have 

 been recommended as specifics. But there is some 

 doubt as to the efficacy of any or of all of those, as 

 the precise mode in which the poison acts upon the 

 system, is not known. The subject is, however, one 

 of very great interest, and information respecting it, 

 obtained from experiments skilfully made and faifh- 

 fully reported, is very much wanted the more so 

 that, in the vulgar opinion, the subject has been in- 

 vested with horrors which certainly do not belong to 

 it, bad as it is in itself ; and there are probably many 

 who die of the bites of serpents from the mere force 

 of the belief that no one who is so bitten can re- 

 cover. 



The next part of the structural character of ser- 

 pents which draws our attention is their mechanical 

 action, whether considered as merely conducing to 

 locomotion, or as one means of securing and over- 

 coming their prey. The first thing to be considered 

 in this is the very peculiar structure of the vertebral 

 column, which, in it? articulation, and in the mode in 

 which the ribs are attached to it, is different from 

 that of any other animal. 



There is a resemblance in the species of all, but the 

 most perfect form is found in the great crushing ser- 

 pents, which kill their prey by compressing it in their 

 folds. The articulation of the head with the body is 

 by means of a single tubercle, but this tubercle has 

 three distinct articulating surfaces like an irregular 

 pulley, and therefore, though it lias a very free lateral 

 motion ; it has but little in any other direction. The 

 posterior extremity of each of the vertebra; is formed 

 into a rounded head, from which springs the main 

 body of the vertebra, increasing in diameter, and ter- 

 minating in a shallow cavity, which receives the 

 round head of the one preceding it. From the neck 

 of the round head of such vertebrae as have ribs at- 

 tached to them, there spring two lateral processes, one 

 on each side, which curve outwards and a little down- 

 wards and increase in diameter as they proceed, each 

 ending with a double tubercle placed longitudinally ; 

 and to this the cavity of the rib is applied. Upon 

 the dorsal aspects of the vertebrae there are also short 

 spinous processes which afford points of origin and 

 insertion to the dorsal muscles. The ribs are awl- 

 shaped and tapering to points, and very strong and 

 elastic for the quantity of matter they contain. They 

 do not meet each other on the under part of the body, 

 neither are they in any way united to a sternum, for 

 there is none. Each pair, for there is a pair on each 

 vertebra, are united at their points to the two extremi- 

 ties of one of the scuta or shields on the under part 

 of the body ; and as the ribs are articulated by cavi- 

 ties on the tubercles of the lateral processes, and are 

 furnished with a curious array of five differently 

 shaped sets of muscles, they admit of a very great 

 deal of motion. The first set of these intersected 

 muscles pass obliquely from one rib to the next. 

 The second pass over two ribs, and unite the external 

 ones of each four in a direction nearly parallel to the 

 spine. The third set also pass over two ribs, and 

 unite the external ones of four, but they pass very 

 obliquely from near the articulation of the one to near 

 the point of the other. The fourth set pass over one 

 rib, and unite the first and last of these in nearly the 

 same direction as the second set. The fifth set unite 

 rib and rib in a direction parallel to the spine , 

 they are very numerous, and extend between rib and 

 rib something in the same manner as the rounds of a 

 ladder. 



These intercostal muscles alone form a very com- 

 plicated apparatus, and are capable of producing 

 more motions than it would be very easy to count. 

 When to these we add the muscles which are in- 

 serted upon the spine itself and its dorsal processes, 

 we are constrained to admit that there is not in the 

 whole of animal nature, wonderful as many of the 

 structures are, any piece of mechanism superior, and 

 few equal, to that of the spine and the ribs of a ser- 

 pent, with their apparel of muscles. The bones too 

 are articulated in such a manner as to give the fullest 

 latitude of action to this very complicated but very 

 beautiful mechanism. 



