126 NATURE NEAR LONDON 



or among the firs. There are many swampy places 

 here, which should be avoided by those who dislike 

 snakes. The common harmless snakes are numerous 

 in this part, and they 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 neighbourhood they 

 are not uncommon, and are still sometimes 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 con- 

 sidered the best thing for deafness, 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, 



