0/" //^^ Deaf Adder. 5 5 



Motions ; neither do I affirm, that the 'DerviJJoes, whg had 

 fo inftruded them, were Egfptian Dewifljes ; very probably 

 they were not; but a Set of Vagrants and Strollers, as Der- 

 vifies frequently are. I only relate a Matter of Fa£l, familiar 

 enough, as it feemed to be, to t\\QEg)/ptian5\ and which every 

 one is at Liberty to think of as he pleafes. But that fome 

 Species of Lizards, no lefs than of Serpents, (for they are 

 nearly related) may be taught a Variety of Motions and Ge- 

 ftures, to the Sound of Mulick, will appear highly probable, 

 from the entertaining Account, which A'6';;2^^r gives us, of the 

 Docility of the Cohra de Capello in his Amoemtates Exotica. 

 Fafc. III. 



In order therefore the better to explain the Hiftorv of the ^l ^}f 



, . J ^ Deaf Adder. 



Deaf Adder, which was alluded to in the Defcription, I had 

 given, oithQ Warralj This Author informs us, (p. igi. Vol.i.) 

 that there is an Afp in Italy which is not deaf: (upon which 

 he makes this Remark;) it is pojfible, the Tfalmifi might 

 mean this Reptile when he made mention of the "Deaf Adder ^ 

 which refufeth to hear the Voice of the Charmer. Now to be 

 informed of an Afp, that was not deaf fliould imply that o- 

 thers, according to his Apprehenlions, were incapable of Hear- 

 ing. Whereas the Serpentine Kind was always reputed to 

 have this Senfe in Perfedlion '. He might perhaps have much 

 better accounted for it, from what he acquaints us with, a 

 little before, {^zg. ibid.) that, m Cyprus, there was a Species 

 of Serpents, generally thought to he the Afp, (the Cecilia ^ ra- 

 ther) whofe Bite is exceedingly 'venomous, and which they call 

 Kouphi or Bliftd. Whereas Kouphi {^'p\i) fhould be interpret- 

 ed Deaf', and would therefore bid fairer to be the Deaf Adder 

 of the Pfalmift, than the Afp of Italy, which, as he tells us 

 above, had the Gift of Hearing. 



For when the Adder is defcribed to be Deaf, ( Tf 5-8. 4. ) ^S^d^I/!' 

 it is to be underftood, not of it's being atlually fo, but only 

 of it's appearing to be fo, by difregarding the Sounds, that 

 are made to charm it. i^^c* kwA^i -m^p^i, as Suidas obferves, ^ ^ 



1 Oynmbus Afpidil/iis bac commmi'ut funt, v'lfus imheciilus, tncefus tardus, auditus fubtilis : 

 according to the Obfervation of, that great Phylician and Naturalift, Mercimalis. Vid. 

 Ktcand. dc Theriacis ]. i6z. Plhi. Nat. Hift, 1. 8. c. 13. 



2 By the fmalnefs of the Head, and the Jhortnefs and tbicknefs of the Body, as he defcribes 

 it, it fljould rather be of the Cscil'u, or Sloti/ Worm Kind. 



