ORDER OPHIDIA. 321 



appear to be mortal if it penetrate only into the cellular 

 tissue, and is perfectly harmless if applied only on the fleshy 

 fibres. Injected into the veins, on the contrary, it rapidly 

 produces death, as many experimentalists have demonstrated, 

 and particularly Fontana. 



We may add that the bite of the viper, though rarely 

 fatal to man, gives rise to grievous and durable consequences, 

 if not treated in proper time. One of these consequences may 

 be an universal jaundice ; it has also been known to produce 

 a violent inflammation of the gums, dryness of the mouth, 

 insatiable thirst, griping, dysury, shiverings, hiccoughs, 

 and cold and colliquative sweats, and all these symptoms 

 endured for a very considerable time. 



But however terrible the accidents occasioned by the viper 

 may appear, they are very far from equalling those pro- 

 duced by the serpents of the burning climates of Asia, of 

 Africa, and of America. In a few hours, and even some- 

 times in a few minutes, the wounded part is seized with 

 torpor and lividness, and the coldness of death shooting 

 rapidly from the extremities, soon makes itself felt in the 

 region of the heart. 



Eagerly devoted to the marvellous, the ancients have 

 admitted with perfect confidence the most absurd fables in 

 relation to the effects of the poison of serpents. Lucan in 

 his Pharsalia, and Nicander in his poem De Theriacis, have 

 left us a nomenclature of serpents, and a picture of the 

 effects of their poison, which are very admirable, considering 

 the period in which those writers flourished. But they bear 

 the stamp of fabling antiquity ; for we read there of the 

 transformation into formidable serpents, of the drops of blood 

 fallen upon the Lybian sands, from the head of Medusa, 

 cut off by Perseus. The following is Lucan's stately de- 

 scription of the principal venomous serpents of Africa, v.liich 

 are still to be found at the present day in the Ouangarah : — 



VOL. IX. Y 



