June 1, IS 65.] 



SCIETs^CE-GOSSTP. 



131 



BITTEN BY A YIPEU! 



T is a common belief that the veuom of the viper, 

 and other serpents, is almost innocaous in 

 winter, and that its virulence is proportionate to 

 the heat of the weather, whether at home or abroad ; 

 hence that tlie snakes of tropical clunes are more 

 deadly venomous than those of temperate countries, 

 on account of the greater heat. Kecently Dr. Guyon 

 has set himself to investigate this subject, especially 

 Avhether the poison is innocuous in winter, with the 

 followiug results : — 



Regarding its violence, he says there is a general 

 belief abroad that it is much more powerful in 

 summer than in winter; but this he does not con- 

 sider well authenticated, and quotes against it the 

 case of one Drake, an exhibitor of snakes, who, 

 having in the summer of 1827, at Eouen, handled a 

 rattlesuake which he took to be dead, while it was 

 only benumbed by the cold, was bitten by it and 

 died in the course of nine hou.rs. From a consider- 

 able number of observations. Dr. Guyon concludes 

 that the intensity or power of the veuom is less 

 owing to difference of season than to the length of 

 time it has been accumidating in the reservoir of 

 the reptile; and the greatest accumulation neces- 

 sarily occurs during winter, because the animal is 

 in a torpid state and does not take any food during 

 that season. So it was in the case of Drake, and 

 so Dr. Guyon found it in that of a horned viper 

 which had been given to him at the caravanserai of 

 Sidi-Makhlouf, Algeria. This reptile had been put 

 into a bottle, which had since remained hermetically 

 closed. It had been in there for six weeks, without 

 food and without air, and looked quite dead, since 

 it could not stir in the bottle, which it filled entirely. 

 And yet, on opening the bottle, the doctor found 

 the reptile perfectly sound, and saw it kill a large 

 fowl instantaneously with its sting. Our author 

 quotes another case, that of a scorpion, that had 

 been kept in a bottle for a long time, and on being 

 released killed two sparrows in less than a minute, 

 r.ud a pigeon in three hours. 



A circumstance has come to our knowledge wliich 

 occurred in Warwickshire, of a boy that v/as bitten 

 by a viper during the winter. 

 .. "The 19th of January, 1864, was an unusuailly 

 warm and sunny day for the time of year. A boy, 

 aged 11 years, started for a walk to Kenilworth, 

 about two miles from the village where he lived. 

 Under one part of the road Hows a small brook. The 

 boy had his dog with him, and he wished to see 

 whether he would follow him across, as the stream 

 was shallow, and there were some large stones to 

 step upon. The opposite bank is rathe: steep, and 

 there were several large pieces of wood and roots 

 projecting from it. One of his leggings was caught 

 in the roots and became unfastened, whereupon he 



sat down on one of the stumps to refasten it and 

 watch his dog in the water, but not for more than 

 two or three minutes. They then started off again, and 

 had not gone more than a quarter of a mile before 

 the boy felt a sharp pain in his wrist. On looking at 

 his wrist he saw plainly, and to his great horror, 

 three little punctures and places, as though a nettle 

 had stung him. His first impression was that he 

 had been bitten by an adder, and he immediately 

 tried to bite out the piece of flesh. The first time 

 he could not manage it, and after two unsuccessful 

 attempts, the third time he bit out the flesh, sucked 

 the wounded part, and at intervals spitting out the 

 poisoned blood. 



" Being fond of natural history, he remembered 

 reading some of the particulars about the bite ot 

 an adder, and was frequently in the habit of ex- 

 pressing his fear of going where the grass was long, 

 lest he should meet with one. He went on a little 

 farther, but feeling faint and weak, and getting , 

 frightened about the bite, he returned home. On 

 arriving there he could hardly speak, from excite- 

 ment and the haste he had made ; but his first words 

 were : ' Mother, I think I have been bitten by an 

 adder : though I did not see one, I feel and see on 

 my wrist the hard white swelling which always 

 comes after a bite.' 



" His mother immediately put his arm into very 

 hot water, and then applied a bread and oil poultice. 

 When the doctor arrived, he said all was done right, 

 and the boy had saved his own life by the coui'age 

 and presence of mind he had shown in at once biting 

 out the piece of flesh. The poison, hovv'cver, had. 

 swelled up his arm through his veins as high as his 

 shoulder ; but by the next day this black streak of 

 poison apparent in the veins of his arm had com- 

 pletely disappeared, and in the course of a few weeks 

 the boy was perfectly restored to health." 



The poison apparatus of the viper consists of the 

 gland in which it is secreted, the duct or canal along 

 which it travels, and the fang by means of which it 

 is injected. The gland is placed at the side of tha 

 head («), and consists of an assemblage of lobes. 



