OF SERPENTS. HI 



SECTION IV. 



We now proceed to enquire into the moft fuccefs* 

 Ell method of curing the difeafe which the poifon pro- 

 duces ; and this part of the fubje6t will, we hope, 

 afford an additional proof, that the view here taken of 

 the operation of the poifon, is moft probably a juft one. 



It would be an endlefs and unprofitable tafk to 

 enumerate all the remedies which have been impofed 

 upon the credulity of mankind, as fpecifics againft the 

 poifon of ferpents; they have been obtained from all 

 the kingdoms of nature, and there is no country, how- 

 -ever rude and barbarous, where the inhabitants have 

 not boafted of fome fpecific peculiar to themfelves. 

 "Die ancient phyiicians highly extolled various prepa- 

 rations of the viper itfelf as a remedy in this difeafe i 

 it would have been a fortunate circumftance, if the 

 fame animal that produced the poifon, fliould alfo have 

 afforded an antidote to deftroy it. Human faliva, as 

 xve are informed by Seneca, and the elder Pliny, 

 was believed to be a powerful remedy for the bite of 

 a viper. The PJylH and Marjt in ancient times, pre- 

 tended to poffefs fome charm in their perfons deftruc- 

 tive to the poifon of ferpents ; and we are told by Mr. 

 Bruce, that a fet of men ftil! exift in Egypt, who will 

 fuffer themfelves to be bitten, and with impunity, by 

 the moft venomous ferpents ia that country, vvhofe 

 bite would be to others, certain and fpeedy death. A 

 great variety of vegetables have been celebrated in 

 different countries for the bite of the ferpent, and none 

 more highly than the root of the Ophirrhiza Mungos, 

 Lin: concerninor which Kiempfer relates very far- 

 prifingeffects. it is chieHy ufed tor the bite of the Colra 

 d3 Capello. (Coluher Naja, Lin :) by the natives of this 

 country, and it would appear that they place great 

 confidence in it. * In America alfo, 'a variety of fnake 



roots 



* A particular defcrlption of this plant will be founcl in the fecomi 

 volume ofthc Amenitat : Academical. In the 4th volume of the Ajtathk 

 Refearches, Sir William Jones defcribesa plant under thenameof 

 Chandraca, which, from \\\t quality afcribed to it, by the Bengal pen- 

 fan ts« 



