ANIMAL POISONS 



are direct food for plants. Thus bones abounc 

 with phosphate of lime. Night-soil and urin 

 do the same. Farm-yard compost contains 

 all the essential ingredients of the farmer's 

 crops, and they all copiously yield, by theii 

 decomposition, the gases of putrefaction 

 such as the carburetted hydrogen, and car 

 bonic acid gas, as well as various easily 

 decomposible salts of ammonia; all of whici 

 are found to be highly nourishing when 

 applied to the roots of the plants, or even to 

 their leaves. And, in fact, some of the mos 

 powerful of the animal fertilizers, such as 

 train-oil, whale-blubber, &c., can yield the 

 plant nothing else: they do not contain either 

 saline or earthy matters. It is their gaseous 

 :s only, therefore, which, when appliec 

 to the roots of vegetables, produces such a 

 rankness of growth, such a dark green, as the 

 farmer invariably finds to follow in moi.st sea- 

 sons from their use. 



The quantity of animal manures employed 

 in England besides that produced by the 

 farmer's livestock, is annually increasing, and 

 it is a happy circumstance that it is so. Not 

 only are sprats and other cheap fish bought up 

 in every direction, but all northern Europe 

 and even the South Sea, is searched for bones ; 



rain oil, and greaves are, to a c 

 rable extent, also used, and there are 

 manufactories in the metropolis for the prepa- 

 ration of manure powd-rs of an animal de- 

 scription, such as the urate of the London Ma- 

 nure Company, and the disinfected nisjht-soil 

 of M. I'.'ittevm. These are both, especially 

 the first, powerful ennchers, and are admirably 

 adapted for application by the drill. 



ANIMAL POISONS. Several animals are 

 furnished with liquid juices of a poisonous 

 nature, which, when injected into fresh wounds, 

 ii the disease or death of the wounded 

 animal. Well known examples are furnished 

 by the sting of serpents, bees, scorpions, spi- 

 ders, &c. The poison of the viper is a yellow 

 liquid, which lodges in two small vesicles in 

 the animal's mouth. These communicate by a 

 tube with the crooked fangs which are hollow, 

 and terminate in a small cavity. When the ani- 

 mal bites, the vesicles are squeezed, and the 

 poison forced through the fangs into the 

 wound. This poisonous juice occasions the 

 fatal effects of the viper's bite. If the vesi- 

 cles be extracted, or the liquid prevented from 

 flowing into the wound, the bite is harmless. 

 It luis a yellow colour, resembling gum, but no 

 taste ; and when applied to the tongue occa- 

 sions numbness. The poison of the viper, 

 and of serpents in general, is most hurtful 

 when mixed with the blood. Taken into the 

 stomach, it kills if the quantity be considera- 

 ble. Fontana has ascertained that its fatal ef- 

 fects are proportional to its quantity compared 

 with the quantity of the blood. Hence the 

 danger diminishes as the size of the animal 

 increases. Small birds and quadrupeds die 

 immediately when they are bitten by a viper ; 

 but to an adult the bite seldom proves fatal. 

 " Sweet oil," says Mr. Beckford, " has long 

 been esteemed as a certain antidote to the bite 

 of a viper ; some should be applied to the part, 

 and some taken inwardly; but the common 



AJOU CABBAGE. 



cheese-rennet, externally applied, is asserted to 

 be a more efficacious remedy than oil. Ammo- 

 nia, or spirits of hartshorn, has also been pro- 

 posed as an antidote. It was introduced in con- 

 sequence of the theory of Dr. Mead, that the 

 poison was of an acid nature. The numerous 

 trials of that medicine by Fontana robbed it 

 of all its celebrity ; but it has been lately re- 

 vived and recommended by Dr. Ramsay'as a 

 certain cure for the bite of the rattlesnake." 

 (Phil. Mag. vol. xvii. p. 125.) 



The venom of the bee and the wasp is also 

 a liquid contained in a small vesicle, forced 

 through the hollow tube of the sting into the 

 wound inflicted by that instrument. From the 

 experiments of Fontana we learn that it bears 

 a striking resemblance to the poison of the 

 viper. That of the bee is much longer in 

 drying when exposed to the air than the venom 

 of the wasp. The sting of the bee should be 

 immediately extracted; and the best applica- 

 tion is opium, and olive oil ; 'one drachm of 

 the former finely powdered, rubbed down with 

 an ounce of the latter, and applied to the part 

 affected by means of lint, which should be 

 frequently renewed. (See BEE.) The poison 

 of the scorpion resembles that of the viper. 

 But its taste is hot and acid, which is the case 

 also with the venom of the bee and the wasp. 

 No experiments upon which we can rely have 

 been made upon the poison of the spider 

 tribe. From the rapidity with which these 

 animals destroy their prey, and even one 

 another, we cannot doubt that their poison is 

 sufficiently virulent. (Mead and Fontana on 

 Poisons ; Thomson's Chem. vol. iv. pp. 531 

 533.) 



[Soft poultices of fresh flesh, bread and milk, 

 or in the absence of these, even mud, are excel- 

 lent applications to stings of insects and even 

 the bites of the most venomous snakes. The 

 vaunted specifics recommended in such cases 

 for internal use, are not to be compared in effi- 

 cacy with the timely application of a poultice of 

 the flesh of a chicken or other animal recently 

 killed. The flesh of the rattle-snake itself is in 

 some parts of America reckoned to possess spe- 

 cific virtues, and doubtless will answer nearly, 

 if not quite as well, as any other good soft- and 

 moist poultice, which will seldom fail to effect 

 a cure when promptly applied and frequently 

 renewed. In this way the irritation and in- 

 flammation induced by the poison in the part 

 bitten is often arrested at once, and prevented 

 from extending to vital parts. These conclu- 

 sions are the results of experiments made with 

 the poison of the rattle-snake, in which the 

 most celebrated Indian and other specifics 

 were used with little if any advantage.] 



ANJOU CABBAGE. An excellent vege- 

 able both for the kitchen and the food of cattle. 

 The great Anjou cabbage, said the Marquis 

 de Turbilly, is one of the most useful legumin- 

 ous plants for country use. It will grow in 

 almost any soil, not excepting even the most 

 ndifferent, provided it be sufficiently dunged. 

 The seeds of this cabbage are commonly sown 

 n June, in a quarter of good mould, in the 

 dtchen-garden, and watered from time to time 

 n case of drought. The plants will rise pretty 

 ipeedilv, and should be thinned soon after. 

 r y 99 



