OF SERPENTS. ll/ 



confifted in fucking the wound. This practice is 

 recommended in ftrong terms by Celsus, who ob- 

 ferves, that it is not only harmlefs to the perfon who 

 fucks the wound, but will fave the life of the perfon 

 wounded : " ergo quifquis id vulnus exfuxerit, et ipfe 

 tutus erit, et tutum hominem prseftabit." Though I 

 would not be fo fanguine in the fuccefs of this pra6tice, 

 yet as giving one chance to efcape, it ought not to 

 be omitted. A ligature fliould, as foon as poffible, be 

 tied above the part bitten, fo as to impede, but not en- 

 tirely to ftop the circulation of the blood, for the bite 

 of a ferpent is for the moft part fuperf cial, and the 

 poifon is carried into circulation by the fmaller veffels 

 on the furface. The wound ihould next be fcarified, 

 and waflied with a folution of the lunar cauftic in 

 water : I would prefer, for this purpofe, a weak folu- 

 tion, becaufe it maybe ufed more freely, and frequently 

 repeated. The fame medicine fliould alfo be given 

 internally, and repeated, at intervals, as circumflances 

 might point out. The foregoing reafoning upon this 

 medicine, induced me, fome months ago, to make trial 

 of it internally, in a different difeafe ; this, therefore, 

 is not the place to ftate the refult of thefe trials ; but 

 it is proper to mention that I know, from repeated 

 experience, it may be taken, two or three times in the 

 day, in the quantity of half a grain diffolved in two 

 ounces of pure water *, and its ufe perfilted in, for 

 feveral days, with great fafety. The principal effe6ts 

 it produces, are a heat in the ftomach and breaft , and, 

 after a time, a tendernefs in the gums, and a difpo- 

 fition to bleed, but without that fwelling and pain 

 attending the ufe of the oxyds of mercury. 



To thefe means might be added (efpecially if the 

 fymptoms, that may have come on, are not materially 

 relieved) a warm bath acidulated with the nitric acid. 



• The water fliould be diftilled, or at lead It (hould be rain water, 

 otherwife the lunar cauftic will be in part decompofed, which will be 

 evident, by a white cloud forming in the folution. 



H3 In 



