^ac NATURE NEAR LONDON 



always keep near water. They often glide into a 

 mole's " angle," or hole, if found in the open. 



Adders are known to exist in the woods round 

 about, but are never, or very seldom, seen upon 

 the heath itself. In the woods of the neighbour- 

 hood they are not uncommon, and are still some- 

 times killed for the sake of the oil. The belief in 

 the virtue of adder's fat, or oil, is still firm ; among 

 other uses it is considered the best thing for deaf- 

 ness, not, of course, resulting from organic defect. 

 For deafness, the oil should be applied by pouring 

 a small quantity into the ear, exactly in the same 

 manner as in the play the poison is poured into the 

 ear of the sleeping king. Cures are declared to be 

 effected by this oil at the present day. 



It is procured by skinning the adder, taking the 

 fat, and boiling it ; the result is a clear oil, which 

 never thickens in the coldest weather. One of 

 these reptiles on being killed and cut open was 

 found to contain the body of a full-grown toad. 

 The old belief that the young of the viper enters 

 its mouth for refuge still lingers. The existence 

 of adders in the woods here seems so undoubted 

 that strangers should be a little careful if they leave 

 the track. Viper's bugloss, which grows so freely 

 by the heath, was so called because anciently it was 

 thought to yield an antidote to the adder's venom. 



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