HISTORICAL REVIEW. 13 



bite, recommending, inter alia, the free use of 

 alcohol. 



The literature on the subject of snake-poison is 

 very voluminous, but those who seek for enlighten- 

 ment in it will be as disappointed as the writer was 

 after wading through it. The toilers in this barren 

 field of research were numerous, but with few excep- 

 tions, they toiled in vain. Fontana may be looked 

 upon as the founder of that hideous experimentalism 

 by which, in his hands alone, four thousand animals 

 were tortured to death without a single tangible result 

 except that in his great work, " Reserche Fisiche sopra 

 il Veneno della Vipera," which he wrote at the con- 

 clusion of his cruel labours, he left us a grotesque 

 monument of patient, but ill-guided research. Other 

 Italians, following his method, Redi, Mangili, Metaxa, 

 &c., were equally unsuccessful in shedding one ray of 

 light on the vexed and obscure problem. 



Among the Germans who contributed to the sub- 

 ject may be mentioned: — 



Wagner. — "Erfahrungen tiber den Biss der ge- 

 meinen Otter." 



Prinz Maximilian von Wiedd. — " Beitrage zur 

 Geschichte Br asilie n s. " 



Lenz. — " Schlangenkunde." 



Heinzel. — " Ueber Pelias Berus und Vipera Am- 

 modytes." 



Among the French : — 



Soubeiran. — " Rapport sur les Viperes de 

 France." 



