( iS9 ) 



THE VIPER 



IS the beft known among this noxious tribe, and is mod frequcfft 

 throughout Europe ; infefting our woods, and often our dwellings* 

 Apparently fmall, feeble, and innocent, but really dangerous. Without 

 elegance of proportion, or colours : commonly two feet long ; tail three 

 or four inches: colour, afh-grcy: from his head, down his back, to hi$' 

 tail, a kind of chain of black fpots, zigzag; on each fide, a range of 

 lefler fpots, of which each correfponds to the angle of the zigzag. The 

 belly is fteel-colour; the head narrows near the nofe ; the fcales on the 

 jaws large : number of teeth often eighteen in the upper jaw, twenty- 

 four in the under. On each fide, in the upper jaw, one, two, three, or 

 four fangs, white, traniparent, hooked, and very fharp ; one third or 

 more of an inch long : thefe arc capable of confiderable motion, and may 

 be erected or declined at the pleafure of the animal: commonly they 

 are laid down along the jaw, and then their points are not feen ; but, to 

 bite, they are erefted. Near their bale, and connedled" to their roots, 

 are feveral refembling them, but fmaller, and feemingiy defigned to re- 

 place them if torn away. Thefc fangs are hollow, having two cavities, 

 one on the convex, the other on the concave part of the fang : the firft of 

 thefe opens on the bafe of the tooth, and at its point j the fecond at the 

 bafe, where it receives vefiels and nerves : thefe tangs are alfo inclofed irt 

 a kind of covering during two thirds of their length. The poifon of the 

 viper is contained in a bag placed on each fide the head, below the muf- 

 cle of the upper jaw ; which mufcle, when in action, preffes this bag, and 

 fqueezes out the venom, which, paffing through the cavities in the fangs, 

 reaches the points, and penetrates into the wound. No other venom is in 

 the viper, though fome have thought its ftaver to be noxious. This 

 poifonous juice is yellow: neither alkali, acid, nor cauilic : when dry, 

 fplits and divides, to a refemblance of a fpider's web : has no effccl on 

 animals void of blood, nor on vipers themfelves : in warm-blooded ani- 

 mals, its effeds are quickeft in the fmaller fpecies, and in proportion to 

 the quantity inje(51:ed into the wound, probably alfo according to the 

 heat of the feafon, climate. Sec, Is dangerous taken internally in fuf- 

 ficient quantity. It adls probably by acrimonious coagulation of fome 

 kind ; fpreads by mingling with the blood : if wounds do not penetrate 

 to the blood, they are late. The fright attending wounds is often a caufe 

 of danger. 



The 



