THE SCORPION. 



465 



greatly swollen, when the animal began to 

 vomit; but this operation always seemed to 

 abate the swelling ; which alternately swelled, 

 and was thus emptied, for three hours succes- 

 sively. The poor animal, after this, fell into 

 convulsions, bit the ground, dragged himself 

 along upon his fore-feet, and at last died, five 

 hours after being bitten. He was not partially 

 swollen round the place which was bitten, 

 as is usual alter the sting of a wasp or a bee ; 

 but his whole body was inflated, and there only 

 appeared a red spot on the places where he 

 had been stung. 



Some days after, however, the same expe- 

 riment was tried upon another dog, and even 

 with more aggravated cruelty; yet the dog 

 seemed no way affected by the wounds, but 

 howling a little when he received them, conti- 

 nued alert and well after them ; and soon after 

 was set at liberty, without showing the small- 

 est symptoms of pain. So far was this poor crea- 

 ture from being terrified at the experiment, that 

 he left his own master's house, to come to that 

 of the philosopher, where he had received more 

 plentiful entertainment. The same experi- 

 ment was tried by fresh scorpions, upon seven 

 other dogs, and upon three hens; but not the 

 smallest deadly symptom was seen to ensue. 

 From hence it appears that many circumstan- 

 ces, which are utterly unknown, must contri- 

 bute to give efficacy to the scorpion's venom. 

 Whether its food, long fasting, the season, the 

 nature of the vessels it wounds, or its state of 

 maturity, contribute to, or retard its malignity, 

 is yet to be ascertained by succeeding experi- 

 ment. In the trials made by our philosopher, 

 he employed scorpions of both sexes, newly 

 caught and seemingly vigorous and active. 

 The success of this experiment may serve to 

 show, that many of those boasted antidotes 

 which are given for the cure of the scorpion's 

 sting, owe their success rather to accident than 

 their own efficacy. They only happened to 

 cure, when the sting was no way dangerous ; 

 but in cases of actual malignity, they might 

 probably be utterly unserviceable. 



The scorpion of the tropical climates being 

 much larger than the former, is probably 

 much more venomous. Helbigius, however, 

 who resided for many years in the East, as- 

 sures us, that he was often stung by the scor- 

 pion, and never received any material injury 

 from the wound : a painful tumor generally 

 ensued; but he always cured it, by rubbing 

 the part with a piece of iron or stone, as he 

 had seen the Indians practise before him, un- 

 til the flesh became insensible. Seba, Moore, 

 and Bosman, however, give a very different 

 account of the scorpion's malignity ; and as- 

 sert, that, unless speedily relieved, the wound 

 becomes fatal. 1 





1 Many experiments have been made to ascertain the 



VOL. II. 



It is certain that no animal in the creation 

 seems endued with such an irascible nature. 

 I have often seen them taken and put into a 

 place of security, exerting all their rage against 

 the sides of the glass vessel that contained them. 

 I have seen them attempt to sting a stick, when 

 put near them; and attack a mouse or a frog, 

 while those animals were far from offering any 

 injury. Maupertuis put three scorpions and 

 a mouse into the same vessel together, and 

 they soon stung the little animal in different 

 places. The mouse, thus assaulted, stood for 

 some time upon the defensive, and at last 

 killed them all, one after another. He tried 

 this experiment, in order to see whether the 

 mouse, after it had killed, would eat the scor- 

 pions ; but the little quadruped seemed en- 

 tirely satisfied with the victory, and even sur- 

 vived the severity of the wounds it had re- 

 ceived. Wolkamer tried the courage of the 

 scorpion against the large spider, and enclosed 

 several of both kinds in glass vessels for that 

 purpose. 2 The success of this combat was very 

 remarkable. The spider at first used all its 

 efforts to immesh the scorpion in its web, 

 which he immediately began spinning ; but 

 the scorpion rescued itself from the danger, by 

 stinging its adversary to death : it soon after 

 cut off, with its claws, all the legs of the spi- 

 der, and then sucked all the internal parts at 

 its leisure. If the scorpion's skin had not been 

 so hard, Wolkamer is of opinion that the spi- 

 der would have obtained the victory ; for he 

 had often seen one of these spiders destroy a 

 toad. 



The fierce spirit of this animal is equally 

 dangerous to its own species ; for scorpions are 



strength of the poison; and in warm climates it has uni- 

 formly been found fatal to the smaller animals. To man 

 the wound is extremely painful. The place becomes in- 

 flamed, and the surrounding parts often turn livid, and 

 require to be carefully dressed in order to prevent mor- 

 tification. 



A French physician, who paid great attention to the 

 habits of these animals, has related many particulars re- 

 specting them. The care with which the female attended 

 upon her young, and, by degrees, instructed them in the 

 mode of hollowing out their burrow or nest, particularly 

 attracted his attention. He made also many curious ex- 

 periments on the effects of their poison; by allowing 

 himself to be frequently stung, he discovered that these 

 effects became less and less painful at every repetition, 

 so that, by degrees, he became almost proof against their 

 venom. He describes the part affected as becoming 

 much swollen, and extremely painful, immediately after 

 the infliction of the injury; and, according to the con- 

 stitution of the individual, this painful feeling continued 

 from twenty-four to forty-eight hours, or even as much 

 as three days. But the most peculiar effect is a sudden 

 and complete prostration of strength, to such an extent 

 that the patient becomes at once deprived of the power 

 of supporting himself. This curious symptom induced 

 the doctor even to propose the use of the sting of the 

 scorpion in medicine, in cases where it became neces- 

 sary suddenly to reduce the pulsations of the heart. 



2 Ephemerides, Dec. 2, 1687. Observ. 224. 

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