REMARKS UPON THE ARISTOLOCHIA. 145 



entirely recovered, I allowed her to depart. She called on the following morning to show 

 herself. 



"The Snake unfortunately escaped, but the woman described it as a ' Kala Samp,' wliich 

 is the term ordinarily used for the Kobra Kapelle. 



" I have wi-itten the above entirely from memory, the case having occurred eight or nine 

 years ago. 



"A middle-aged woman was brought to my door in the early part of the rainy season, 

 who had been bitten by a Snake at daybreak, while stooping down for the i)urpose of 

 sweeping the floor. She called out to the people of the house that a rat had bitten her, 

 and nothing more was thought of it, as her attention was directed to her infant, who became 

 fractious for the breast. She accordingly went to bed to give the child sustenance, and 

 not long afterwards complained of giddiness. It was suggested to her that a Snake might 

 have bitten her, but slie referred to a hole in the miid-wall from which the rat must have 

 darted out. 



"Nothing further transpired until the household were alarmed on finding her in a state 

 of insensibility, foaming at the mouth, and the infant at her breast. They were then 

 convinced that a Snake must have done the mischief, and immediately carried her off to 

 the charmer ! After detaining the woman for a full hour, the fellow coolly told her 

 friends to take her off to the Commissioner, who would prescribe for her. The j)Oor woman 

 had been dead for some time before the incantations were finivshed. On arriving at my house, 

 I found the deceased in a state of incipient decomposition, and, having heard the statement 

 of her friends, directed them to take the body away for the performance of funeral rites, 

 and to lose no time in bringing her infant, who was said to be suffering from the effects of the 

 poison. 



"The poor thing reached my house in a state of insensibility, though not dead. Its head 

 was hanging on its shoulder, and when raised beyond the perpendicular would fall on the 

 opposite shoulder. The body was not cold, and that was the only indication that death had 

 not supervened. I selected one of the smallest of the leaves of the Aristolochia, and pounded 

 one-third of it, and, with a small table-spoonful of water, poured the solution into the stomach. 

 After the lapse of four or five minutes the child heaved a deep sigh, opened its eyes wildly, 

 gave a loud sci-eam, and afterwards became quite composed. The child was brought to me on 

 the following morning quite well." 



As this plant is so valuable, and seems likely to become an acknowledged remedy, a few 

 lines may be spared for a short description of the species, and the mode of its action. 



The AristolocMa Indica is one species of a rather large genus, inhabiting many parts of 

 the world, bat being most plentiful in the hotter regions. It is a creeping plant, and the 

 specimens grown by Mr. Lowther were trained upon a trellis- work, which they clothed with 

 their narrow, abruptly pointed leaves. Another species of this group of plants, the Aristo- 

 locMa serpentina, is not imcommnion in parts of North America, where it is known under the 

 title of the Virginian Snake-root. An infusion of this plant is used as a specific against ague 

 and liver affections. 



The fresh leaf of the Aristolochia Indica is, when tasted, very bitter and aromatic, bear- 

 ing some resemblance to quinine in the clear searching quality of the bitter. It is remarkable 

 that when persons are suffering from the poison of the Cobra, they describe it as being sweet. 

 There is certainly a kind of sweetness in the leaf, for on chewing a dried leaf of this plant, 

 kindly sent me by Sir W. Hooker, from the collection in the botanical gardens at Kew, I find 

 it to be rather, but not very bitter, with a jjungent aroma, something like that of the common 

 ivy, and a faint, though decided sweetness as an after-flavor. 



It is not a universal specific, for when experiments were tried by getting some dogs 

 bitten by the Cobra, and treating them with this leaf, they died to all appearance sooner 

 than if they had been entirely neglected. Mr. Lowther has made rather a curious series 

 of experiments on the Cobra's poison and the mode of its action, and has found that while 

 human beings become cold as marble under the influence of the venom, dogs are affected 



Vol. m.— W. 



