196 OPHIDIANS. 
Since being inoculated, I have never seen any snake make 
the slightest attempt to bite me, unless provoked, and I have 
observed the same fact in all the Curers, and every person 
inoculated ; one is also freed, by inoculation, from the annoy- 
ance of flies, fleas, and sand-flies, which is by no means an 
inconsiderable relief in any tropical climate. 
The duration of this preservative effect by inoculation is 
undoubtedly the same as that of the Virus vacuno.* 
Another of the species Aristolochia is the Virginia snake- 
root} (Serpentaria or Aristolochia Virginia). It is not im- 
probable that the Indians used it as an antidote, and that this 
- fact originated its name. 
The Cedron Nut (Simaba Cedron) is another substance fre- 
quently applied (in powder) to the bitten part, and adminis- 
tered internally in a decoction, but with little apparent effect 
in most cases, and of none whatever in many; the Cedron is 
the popular febrifuge. 
The Valdivia Nut (produced by a vine like the poison ivy) 
is highly recommended by many Curers in the State of Antio- 
quia, to be applied and used in the same way as the Cedron. 
My experiments with it do not warrant me in considering this 
antidote but slightly superior, as such, to the previous one. 
Its action in antidoting the poison is slow in all cases, and 
ineffectual in very many, and it is by no means a specific. 
The Guaco (Mikania Guaco) (leaves and root) is said to be 
used as an antidote by some of the Indian tribes in the inte- 
rior of Colombia, and consequently enjoys a wide reputation 
throughout all classes in the country ;f that it has cured some 
cases cannot be denied, but it is none the less true that several 
cases in which it has been administered have terminated fa- 
* It is a singular fact, that no person inoculated is known to have died 
from any fever of a typhoid or putrid type. 
+ Jahr and Catellanus, Pharmacy, 1860. 
