342 CLASS REPTILIA. 



a black and fluid blood escapes through all the apertures 

 of the body. If the wound be in the neck, death is then 

 almost inevitable, for asphyxia is the necessary consequence 

 of the swelling that ensues. M. Bosc has had occasion to 

 observe a fact of this description. 



It is chiefly in stormy weather, when the atmosphere is 

 charged with electricity, and the sun shines through the 

 clouds, that the rattle-snakes are most dangerous. 



Although the wound produced by the bite of one of these 

 animals may be more than an inch in extent, it is said to be 

 scarcely felt in the first instance ; but at the end of a few 

 seconds, the consequences begin to be manifest- 

 Three kinds of remedies have been employed against the 

 bite of the rattle-snake, suction and ligature, caustics, and 

 internal medicines. 



The first is the most certainly efficacious, when it is pos- 

 sible to employ it. Ligatures will, to a certain extent, con- 

 tribute to retard the general absorption. 



For the second the Indians employ chewed tobacco, ap- 

 plied to the wound ; Gumilla, in his Natural History of 

 the Orinoco, also recommends, on his own personal experi- 

 ence, gunpowder lighted over the part, after certain scarifica- 

 tions have been made. 



For internal remedies many plants are used, pounded or 

 mashed, such as certain lettuces, the root of prehnanthes 

 alba, the root, stalks, and leaves of a species of helianthus. 

 In desperate cases, according to M. Palisot de Beauvois, 

 the pounded bark of the root of the tulip-tree is employed 

 with advantage, and in the course of treatment, the root of 

 the spirrcea trifoliata as a purgative. 



The most powerful sudorifics are also recommended. The 

 roots of polygala seneka of aristolochia serpentaria and 

 anguicida, employed in decoction and fomentation to the 

 highest possible degree of heat, are also prescribed. 



