90 ZOOLOGY OF INDIA. 



position of acids, when thpy form compound salts. 3. 

 Oxygen is attracted l)y different metals, with different de- 

 grees of force ; those which attract it with the least force 

 are the more perfect metals, such as plalina, gold, and silver, 

 which cannot be converted into oxides, except at very high 

 temperatures ; whereas arsenic, and many other substances, 

 attract it strongly, and are usually found in combination 

 with it even in the bowels of the earth. If, therefore, the 

 mortal effects arising from the bite of a serpent result, as 

 stated by Mr. Boag, from the subtraction of oxygen from 

 the blood, it is natural to suppose that the most efficient 

 cure must consist in the renewal of that vital ingredient, 

 and the most obvious and easy mode of accomplishing this 

 will be to employ such substances as are known to contain 

 oxvgen in the greatest abundance, and to part with it with 

 the greatest facility. This is precisely the character of the 

 lunar caustic, which is made by dissolving silver in the 

 nitric acid, and afterward evaporating and crystallizing the 

 solution.* 



We may observe that the strength of the poison varies 

 greatly in the different kinds of serpents. Thus, the use 

 of the lunar caustic, which, in the hands of the Abbe Fon- 

 tana, proved so efficacious when applied as remedial to 

 the bite of the viper, was found of little or no avail in 

 India as a counteraction to the venom of the cobra de ca- 

 pello. 



If it were not inconsistent with our necessarily narrow 

 limits, we might here exhibit a very formidable list of spe- 

 cies indigenous to India. But, referring the student of 

 herpetology to the splendid work of Dr. Rassel on the ser- 

 pents of the coast of Coromandel, and to the writings of 

 Daudin,t Schneider,^ Wagler,^ and other systematic au- 

 thors, we shall confine our present attention to a very few 

 species. 



The viperine-boa {Paduin Cootoo of Russel) is not above 



* See a paper, On the Poison of Serpents, by W. Boag, Esq., Asiatic 

 Researches, vol. vi. p. 103. 



t Histoire Naturelle des Reptiles, 8 vols. 8vo. 



} Historiae Aniphibiorum Naturales et Litterariffi, fascic. I. et n. in 

 8vo. 



^ Hist. Nat. des Esp. Nouv. des Serpents, d^crite d'apres les Notes du 

 Voyageur (M. Spix), par Jean VVagler. Lat. et. Fr., 4to,, Munich, 1824 



