VEGETABLE POISONS. 177 



one of the sweetest attributes of nature. Fortu* 

 nately at the present day, Europe is more en- 

 lightened ; and had the propensity continued, 

 the means of indulgence have been so gradually 

 diminished by the advance of agriculture and 

 general cultivation, that the only venomous ser- 

 pents to which we are exposed, will in a few 

 years become extinct. 



The flesh of the viper, from containing a large ' 

 proportion of gelatine, was formerly in great 

 reputation for pulmonary consumption, and for 

 other diseases in which a restorative diet of easy 

 assimilation was considered of use. Why it 

 came to fail in the first most fatal of all maladies, 

 no physician of any experience will be at a loss 

 to decide. But that it should not be adopted in 

 other diseases of debility which admit of being 

 alleviated by a very nutritive diet, is a circum- 

 stance which can only be attributed to the caprice 

 and uncertainty of all human practices, from 

 which it could not be expected that our profes- 

 sion, enlightened as we must admit it. to be, 

 should be altogether exempt. 



The viper, like the rattle snake and other 

 venomous serpents, seldom makes its attacks 

 upon man unless irritated by pressure or some 

 other cause. Their bite, as to its depth and 

 repetition, will be regulated by the degree of 

 irritation, by the season of the year, and by the 

 state of the health of the animal. The effects, in 



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