VEGETABLE POISONS. 161 



the other teeth, with which they inflict their 

 poisonous wounds. t 



These fangs have, at their base in the upper 

 jaw, a very small sac or bag immediately at- 

 tached, which serves as a receptacle to the poison 

 that has been secreted by a glandular apparatus, 

 situated at the back part of the head, and behind 

 each ear, and which, by means of tubes or canals 

 running through the roof of the mouth, is conveyed 

 into the sac to be ready for use. The fang itself, 

 to which the sac is attached, is tubular; having 

 an orifice on its outward extremity large enough 

 to admit of the fluid being ejected by the pres- 

 sure of the surrounding muscles, when the ani- 

 mal is excited to bite. 



The poison contained in the bag, is a yellowish, 

 viscid, tasteless liquid, very small in quantity, 

 which, injected into the blood vessels, proves 

 frequently fatal ; but which may be taken into 

 the mouth and stomach without any danger. In- 

 deed it is a common practice with the viper 

 catchers, to suck the wound when the bite has 

 been inflicted ; and we have witnessed the same 

 practice in the West Indies among the negroes 

 when bitten by any venomous animal. 



When the sac is ruptured, (as may be effected 

 by drawing the teeth of the animal,) the power of 

 poisoning is destroyed ; and of this, the viper 

 catchers avail themselves, by irritating the animal 

 to seize a piece of cloth, which the viper grasps 



M 



