422 



HISTORY OF FROGS, LIZARDS, AND SERPENTS. 



destroyed, it then makes a dreadful and des- 

 perate defence. It erects itself upon its tail, 

 throws back its head, and inflicts its wound 

 in a moment ; then parts and inflicts a second 

 wound : after which, we are told by some, 

 that it remains torpid and inactive, without 

 even attempting to escape. 



The very instant the wound is inflicted, 

 though small in itself, it appears more painful 

 than the sting of a bee. This pain, which is 

 so suddenly felt, far from abating, grows 

 every moment more excruciating and dan- 

 gerous : the limb swells ; the venom reaches 

 the head, which is soon of a monstrous size ; 

 the eyes are red and fiery ; the heart beats 

 quick, with frequent interruptions ; the pain 

 becomes insupportable, and some expire under 

 it in five or six hours ; but others, who are of 

 stronger constitutions, survive the agony for a 

 few hoqrs longer, only to sink under a general 

 mortification, which ensues, and corrupts the 

 whole body. 1 



1 Death by the bite of a Rattle-snake At the meet- 

 ing of the Academy of Sciences of France on the 9th of 

 April, 1827, some documents were presented by M. Du- 

 merel. connected with the death of Mr Drake by the bite 

 of a rattle-snake, forming part of a collection of reptiles 

 which that person had exhibited at London, and had 

 taken to France for the same purpose. These docu- 

 ments were transmitted to the Academy by the Minister 

 of the Interior; and seem to have excited fears in some 

 of the members, lest, the climate of France being favour- 

 able, some of these dangerous reptiles might escape and 

 propagate. 



From these documents it appears, that Mr Drake 

 arrived at an inn in Rouen on the 8th of February, with 

 three live rattle-snakes and some young crocodiles, arid 

 that, notwithstanding his care to preserve them from 

 cold on the road, he saw with grief on his arrival that the 

 finest of the three was dead. The dead animal was 

 removed from the cage, and the cage itself, with the 

 other two, were taken into the dining-room, and placed 

 near the stove. Here Mr Drake endeavoured to rouse 

 them with a stick ; but, perceiving that one of the two 

 gave no signs of animation, he opened the cage, took the 

 serpent by the head and tail, and approaching a window 

 to ascertain by handling if life was extinct, the animal 

 turned its head half round, and fixed one of its fangs in 

 the posterior external part of the left hand. Mr Drake 

 shrieked, pronounced some words in English, according 

 to the .report, and was replacing the serpent in the cage, 

 when it again bit him on the palm of the same hand. 

 Mr Drake now ran out into the court calling eagerly for 

 a surgeon : and, not finding water readily, rubbed his 

 hand upon some ice, which he found at the door. Two 

 minutes after, having procured a cord, he himself made 

 a ligature on the arm above the hand. Notwithstanding 

 these precautions, his agitation from the fear of the con- 

 sequences continued to increase till the arrival of Dr 

 Pihorel. The presence of this gentleman somewhat 

 composed the feelings of Mr Drake; and he saw with 

 eager joy the chafing-dish and irons arrive, with which 

 the wounds were to be cauterized. This operation was 

 instantly performed, and the patient took internally half 

 a glassful of olive oil. Drake seemed now to have re- 

 sumed his tranquillity. But in a few minutes more 

 symptoms made their appearance which rendered the 

 case hopeless, and he died in eight hours and three 

 quarters after the bites. 



As a gentleman in Virginia was walking 

 in the fields for his amusement, he accidently 

 trod upon a rattle-snake, that had been lurk- 

 ing in a stony place ; which, enraged by the 

 pressure, reared up, bit his hand, and shook 

 its rattles. The gentleman readily perceived 

 that he was in the most dreadful danger ; but, 

 unwilling to die unrevenged, he killed the 

 snake, and carrying it home in his hand, 

 threw it on the ground before his family, cry- 

 ing out, " I am killed, and there is my 

 murderer." In such an extremity, the speed- 

 iest remedies were the best. His arm, which 

 was beginning to swell, was tied up near the 

 shoulder, the wound was anointed with oil, 

 and every precaution taken to stop the infec- 

 tion. By the help of a very strong constitu- 

 tion he recovered ; but not without feeling 

 the most various and dreadful symptoms for 

 several weeks together. His arm, below the 

 ligature, appeared of several colours, with a 

 writhing among the muscles, that, to his 



The body was afterwards opened. The internal 

 organs appeared healthy ; the brain and spinal cord were 

 unaltered. The membrane which covered these parts, 

 however, was observed to have a reddish tinge. The 

 veins presented no trace of inflammation ; and the only 

 appearance of derangement in the system, consisted in 

 the veins of the affected side having the blood curdled or 

 clotted. 



In a curious memoir on the habits of the rattle-snake, 

 read by M. Audubon at the Wernerian Society, that 

 gentleman mentioned a circumstance which tends to 

 show that the poisonous fangs of this reptile, even when 

 withdrawn from the animal, retain their virulence for 

 years. A person had been bitten by a rattle-snake in 

 the wood, through a strong boot. He died without the 

 cause of his death being properly investigated. The 

 boots descended to his son, who, after putting them on, 

 was taken suddenly ill, and also died. The effects of 

 this last were brought to sale ; and a younger brother 

 fancying the boots, or willing to preserve some memorial 

 of his father and brother, was the purchaser. He used 

 them only once, when he also fell ill and died. The 

 medical men, whom such an occurrence had led to 

 investigate its cause, at last ripped up the fatal boot, and 

 found, firmly fixed in the substance of the leather, the 

 fang of the rattle-snake, which had thus caused the death 

 of three individuals. Rattle-snakes, M. Audubon 

 further observed, are often found coiled up and torpid 

 when the temperature is low ; and he himself once nar- 

 rowly escaped from perhaps a serious accident, in trust- 

 ing to their continued torpidity. He had found an ex- 

 cellent specimen coiled up and torpid, which he put in 

 his knapsack along with some wild ducks which he had 

 shot. The motion and heat of his body, together with 

 the additional heat afforded by a sportsman's fire at a 

 repast in the woods, had, however, revived the animal ; 

 and the motions of his knapsack, observed from the out- 

 side, indicated life within. M. Audubon at first thought 

 that some of his ducks, imperfectly killed, had found 

 their situation irksome, and were testifying their im- 

 patience ; but the recollection of the rattle-snake flash- 

 ing at once on his mind, he threw off his bag, duck, and 

 reptile, altogether. The removal of the animal to a 

 colder temperature brought on again its torpidity. He 

 carried the snake home; and the identical specimen, if we 

 rightly understood him, is now in the Museum of the Ly- 

 ceum of Natural History of New York. Brewster's Jour. 



