THE SERPENT. 



417 



down upon Cue bladder where it grows, there 

 is seen to issue a part of the venom that lay 

 below. To describe this operation at once : 

 when the serpent is irritated to give a venom- 

 ous wound, it opens its formidable jaws to the 

 widest extent ; the movable bones of the up- 

 per jaw slide forward ; the fangs that lay before 

 inclining are thus erected; they are struck with 

 force into the flesh of the obnoxious person ; by 

 meeting resistance at the points, they press upon 

 the bladders of venom from whence they grow; 

 the venom issues up through the hollow of the 

 tooth, and is pressed out through its slit into 

 the wound, which by this time the tooth has 

 made in the skin. Thus from a slight punc- 

 ture, and the infusion of a drop of venom 

 scarcely larger than the head of a pin, the 

 part is quickly inflamed, and, without a pro- 

 per antidote, the whole frame contaminated. 



The appearance which this venom produces 

 is different, according to the serpent that 

 wounds, or the season, or the strength of the 

 animal that strikes the blow. If a viper 

 inflicts the wound, and the remedy be ne- 

 glected, the symptoms are not without danger. 

 It first causes an acute pain in the place af- 

 fected, attended with a swelling, first red, 

 and afterwards livid. This by degrees spreads 

 to the neighbouring parts; great faintness, 

 . and a quick, though low and interrupted, 

 pulse ensues ; to this succeed great sickness at 

 the stomach, bilious and convulsive vomitings, 

 cold sweats, pains about the navel, and death 

 itself. But the violence of these symptoms 

 depends much on the season of the year, the 

 difference of the climate, the size or rage of 

 the animal, and the depth and situation of the 

 wound. These symptoms are much more 

 violent, and succeed each other more rapidly, 

 after the bite of a rattle-snake ; but when the 

 person is bit by the cobra di capello,he dies 

 in an hour, his whole frame being dissolved 

 into a putrid mass of corruption . 



Nothing surely can more justly excite our 

 wonder, than that so small a quantity of venom 

 should produce such powerful and deadly 

 effects. If the venom itself be examined 

 through a microscope, it will be found to shoot 

 into little crystals, that, to an imagination 

 already impressed with its potency, look like 

 so many darts fit for entering the blood-vessels, 

 and wounding their tender coats. But all 

 these darts are wholly of our own making : tlie 

 softest, mildest fluid whatever, possessed of any 

 consistency, will form crystals under the eye of 

 the microscope, and put on an appearance ex- 

 actly like the venom of the viper. In fart, this 

 venom has no acrid taste whatever ; and to all 

 experiments that our senses can make upon 

 it, appears a slimy insipid fluid. C haras, 

 who oi'ten tasted it, assures us of the fact; and 

 asserts, that it maybe taken inwardly without 



any sensible effects, or any prejudice to the 

 constitution. But the famous experiments that 

 were tried by Rhedi and others in the pre- 

 sence of the Great Duke of_Tuscany and his 

 court, put this beyond any doubt whatsoever. 

 By these it appeared, that the serpent having 

 once bitten exhausted for that time the greatest 

 part of its poison : and though the wound caused 

 by its biting a second time was attended with 

 some malignant symptoms, yet they were 

 much milder than before. It appeared that 

 the serpent biting upon a sponge, or a piece of 

 soft bread, and then biting a dog immediately 

 after, did not inflict a wound more dangerous 

 than the prick of a needle. It appeared that 

 the venom being collected, and a needle dip- 

 ped therein, this produced almost as painful 

 effects as the tooth of the animal itself. But 

 what caused the greatest surprise in the court 

 was, the seeming rashness of one Tozzi, a vi- 

 per-catcher; who while the philosophers were 

 giving elaborate lectures on the danger of the 

 poison when taken internally, boldly desired 

 a large quantity of it might be put together; 

 and then, with the utmost confidence, drank i< 

 off before them all. The court was struck 

 with astonishment, and expected that the man 

 would instantly fall dead ; but they soon per- 

 ceived their mistake, and found that taken in 

 this manner, the poison was as harmless as 

 water; so true is that famous passage of Lu- 

 can, 



Noxia serpentum est admixto sanguine pestis : 

 Morsu virus habent, et fatum in dente minimi ur: 

 Focula morte carent. 



What then shall we say to the speedy et' 

 feet of so seemingly harmless a liquid taken 

 into the circulation ? Let us first observe, that 

 milk is one of the most mild and nourishing of 

 all fluids, and seemingly the most friendly to 

 the human constitution ; yet if milk be injec- 

 ted into a vein, it will quickly become fatal, 

 and kill with more certain destruction than 

 even the venom of the viper. From hence 

 then we may infer, that the introducing not 

 only the serpentine venom, but also a quantity 

 of any other mixture, into the circulation, will 

 be fatal; and that, consequently, serpents kill 

 as well by their power of injecting the wound 

 as by the potency of their poison. Some in- 

 deed may inject a more acrimonious mixture, 

 and this may produce more speedy effects ; but 

 any mixture thus injected would be danger- 

 ous, and many would be fatal. 



Ray gives us an inslance of the potency of 

 the serpent-poison ; which, though it has all 

 the air of a fable, I cannot help transcribing. 

 " A gentleman who went over to the East 

 Indies, while he was one day sitting among 

 some friends, was accosted by an Indian jug- 

 gler, who offered to show him some experi- 

 ments respecting the venom of serpents; an ex- 

 3 Q 



