618 THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



impending danger, become their unresisting victims, and even seem, as it were, wan- 

 tonly to rush upon destruction. But upon this subject we shall have more to say. 



A poor Indian girl that accompanied Schomburgk on his travels through the forests 

 of Guiana was less fortunate than the Prince of Neu Wied's companion. She was 

 bitten by a trigonocephalus, and it was dreadful to see how soon the powers of life 

 began to ebb under the fatal effects of the poison. The wound was immediately 

 sucked, and spirits of ammonia, the usual remedy, profusely applied both externally 

 and inwardly, but all in vain. In less than three minutes, a convulsive trembling 

 shook the whole body, the face assumed a cadaverous aspect, dreadful pains raged in 

 the heart, in the back, less in the Avound itself ; the dissolved blood flowed from the 

 ears and nose, or was spasmodically ejected by the stomach ; the pulse rose to 120-130 

 in the minute ; the paralysis which first benumbed the bitten foot spread farther and 

 farther, and in less than eight minutes the unfortunate girl was no longer to be recog- 

 nized. The same day the foot swelled to shapeless dimensions, and she lay senseless 

 until, after an agony of sixty-three hours, death relieved her from her sufferings. 



A great many antidotes have been recommended against serpentine poison, but their 

 very number proves their inefficacy. It is a well known fact that serpentine poison 

 may be swallowed with impunity ; it shows its effects only on mixing directly with the 

 blood. A tight ligature above the wound, along with sucking, burning, or cutting it 

 out, are thus very rational remedies for preventing the rapid propagation of the venom. 

 Suction is, however, not always unattended with danger to the person who undertakes 

 the friendly office. Thus Schomburgk relates the misfortunes of a poor Indian, whose 

 son had been bitten in the cheek. The father instantly sucked the wound, but a hollow 

 tooth conveyed the poison into his own body. His cheek swelled under excruciating 

 pains, and without being able to save his son, his own health and vigor were forever lost; 

 for such are the dreadful consequences of this poison, that they incurably trouble the 

 fountains of life. The wound generally breaks open every year, emitting a very offen- 

 sive odor, and causes dreadful pains at every change of the weather. Although all 

 the venomous snakes produce morbid symptoms nearly similar, yet the strength of the 

 poison varies according to the species of the serpent, and to the circumstances under 

 which it is emitted. It is said to be most virulent during very hot weather, or when 

 the animal is about to cast its skin. The effects are naturally more powerful and 

 rapid when a larger quantity of poison flows into the wound, and a snake with exhausted 

 supplies from repeated bitings will evidently strike less fatally than another whose 

 glands are inflated with poison after a long repose. 



Before describing some of the most conspicuous of the venomous serpents, a few 

 words on the simple but admirable mechanism of their delicate but needle-like fangs 

 will not be out of place. Towards the point of the fang, which is invariably situated 

 in the upper jaw, there is a little oblong aperture on the convex side of it, and through 

 this there is a communication down the fang to the root, at which lies a little bag con- 

 taining the poison. Thus, when the point of the fang is pressed, the root of the fang 

 also presses against the bag and sends up a portion of the poison it contained. The 

 fangs being extremely movable, can be voluntarily depressed or elevated ; and as from 

 their brittleness they are very liable to break, nature, to provide for a loss that would 

 be fatal, has added behind each of them smaller or subsidiary fangs ready to take 

 their place in case of accident. 



