40 VIPER SERPENT. Class III. 



neglected, are very terrible : it soon causes an 

 acute pain in the place affected, attended with 

 a swelling, first red, afterwards livid, which by 

 degrees spreads to the neighboring parts ; great 

 faintness, and a quick though low and inter- 

 rupted pulse, ensue ; sickness at the stomach, 

 bilious convulsive vomitings, cold sweats, and 

 sometimes pains about the navel, and in conse- 

 quence of these, death itself. But the violence 

 of the symptoms depends much on the season of 

 the year, the difference of the climate, the size 

 or rage of the animal, or the depth or situation 

 of the wound. 



Dreadful as the effects of its bite may be, yet 

 its flesh has been long celebrated as a noble me- 

 Uses. dicine. Doctor Mead cites from Pliny, Galen, 

 and other antients, several proofs of its efficacy 

 in the cure of ulcers, the elephantiasis, and 

 other bad complaints. He even says he has 

 seen good effects from it in an obstinate lepra: 

 it is at present used as a restorative, though we 

 think the modern physicians have no great 

 dependence on its virtues. The antients pre- 

 scribed it boiled, and to be eaten as fish ; for 

 when fresh, the medicine was much more likely 

 to take effect than when dried, and given in 

 form of a powder or troche. Mr. Keysler re- 

 lates that Sir Kenelm Digby used to feed his 



