SNAKE-POISON LITERATURE. 63 



demy of Paris, after investigating the subject, 

 pronounced the treatment ineffectual "any fur- 

 ther than it might be a fomentation to the tume- 

 fied part.'' Mead attaches the greatest value to 

 the AxiiMgia Viperince or viper's fat, which 

 was said to have been tlje remedy used by the 

 English viper-catchers, from whom after a great 

 deal of trouble, Mead obtained the secret. He 

 gives two experiments with a view of proving its 

 efficacy, but both are vague and unsatisfactory. 

 He indulges in a very wild theory to account for 

 the efficacy of the treatment. The "cordial re- _9™?°'j 



*^ Ralegh and 



medies" recommended are "Confect Ralegh and 

 the salt of vipers, or, in want of this, ammonia." 

 It is believed by many, even in the present day, 

 that the viper has about it the antidote to its own 

 poison, and it was saggested to Sir Joseph 

 Fayrer, by an American gentleman who found 



*Since writing the above the following has come vinder 

 my observation : " It is a common belief in many parts 

 of South America — a country as besotted in supersti- 

 tious observances and customs as Spain is — that the bite 

 of the rattlesnake acts as a cure for elephantiasis. In 

 one sense it may be said to be a specific for the disease, 

 as all who have tried the remedy have died within a few 

 hours of the experiment. The following case appears to 

 liave acted as a rude shock to the believers in the effi- 



Ammonia. 



