OF SERPENTS. I25 



have been employed with greater fuccefs : for the 

 delicacy of the human ficin is very great, and the 

 abforption of any remedy that might be applied to it, 

 extenfive and fpeedy. Dogs, we are told, do not 

 perfpire, and it is probable that there exills much 

 correfpondence between the powers of abforption and 

 perfpiration. 



The little fuccefs attending the ufe of the lunar 

 cauftic in thefe experiments, affords a fufficiently con- 

 vincing proof, that the fnakes made ufe of by the 

 Abbe' Font an a, and the one made ufe of by me, 

 poffefs very different degrees of ftrength in their ve- 

 nom : there are one or two experiments w here this re- 

 medy appeared to be ufed vv'ith fome effed: but I 

 imputed it to the weakened power of the venom by 

 ufe: and I am fully convinced that the poifon of this 

 kind of ferpent, when it is in full vigour, is fo cer- 

 tainly and rapidly deftruftive, at leaft to fmall ani- 

 mals, that neither the lunar cauftic, nor probably any 

 other remedy, would arreft its progrefs. It appears 

 that even the delay of half a minute in cutting off 

 the ear that was bitten, was fatal to the animal; and 

 it is fcarcely poffible that to a perfon bitten by a 

 fnake, any kind of remedy could be applied in a 

 fliorter time. No experiment could be better calcu- 

 lated than this laft, to ftiew the power of the venom 

 of this kind of ferpent, for Fontana obferves, that 

 it is very difficult to kill either dogs or rabbits when 

 bitten in the ears, and out of all the experiments he 

 makes upon the ears of thefe animals, and where no 

 attempt was made to relieve them, none of them died. 



I AM therefore ftill of opinion, that the method of 

 cure mentioned in the foregoing paper is the moft ra- 

 tional, and the moft likely to fucceed in prevenlino- 

 death, as well as the other bad confequences v,hich 

 fometimes follow the bite of a ferpent that is not 

 mortal. In the ufe of the nitric acid bath, I fliould 

 have much confidence : and this confidence arifes 



from 



