438 SNAKES, 



serpents having died in Liverpool, he most obligingly sent it to me 

 for dissection. As things turned out, nothing could have been more 

 acceptable, as you shall see anon. There had been a story current, 

 above one hundred years old (invented, no doubt, by some anxious 

 old grandmother to deter little children from straying into the back 

 woods), of a boot and rattlesnake. It seems that the poison-fang of 

 the snake, having pierced through the boot, came in contact with 

 rhe leg of the wearer, who died in a few minutes. The snake then 

 glided away, leaving the point of its fang in the boot. Some time 

 after this melancholy event, another man, in trying on the boot, got 

 a prick from the fang, and, after having experienced most excruciating 

 pain, gave up the ghost. A few weeks after this, a third man, having 

 bought the boots, he put them on, and perished in like manner. 

 These sudden and extraordinary deaths caused an examination of 

 the boots when, lo and behold ! the broken fang of a rattlesnake 

 was discovered sticking in the leather. This most absurd and im- 

 possible fabrication was revived a few years ago, was brought to this 

 country, was declared to be true, was printed, and was believed by 

 many of our learned fathers in zoology. I protested vehemently 

 against it, and I pronounced it to be a barefaced Yankee hoax. 

 But my voice was too feeble to be heard, or not sufficiently import- 

 ant to engage attention. And now to the rattlesnake which I had 

 received from Mr Vangordon. Whilst I was engaged on the head, 

 my knife slipped sideways, and instantaneously brought my thumb 

 in contact with one of the poison-fangs, which entered deeply into 

 the flesh, and caused the blood to flow. It is almost needless to 

 add that the wound healed, just as an ordinary wound would have 

 healed, without producing one single unfavourable symptom. Some 

 time after this, a few professional gentleman in Leeds, wishing to 

 test the effects of -the wourali poison with the venom of a rattlesnake, 

 arranged with Mr Vangordon to exhibit his imported serpents ; and 

 an invitation was sent to me, requesting that I would attend, and 

 bring with me some poisoned arrows. We all met at the house of 

 our physician, Doctor Hobson, who had procured a few Guinea pigs 

 and rabbits for the occasion. Aware that Mr Vangordon's box was 

 not well adapted for a scientific examination of the snakes, I had 

 sent on before me the large glass case which had been made to con- 



