SNAKE-POISON LITERATURE. 65 



physicians of Italy and France very commonly 

 prescribed the broth and jelly of viper's flesh for 

 the same uses. It appears also to have been given 

 in England, for Mead observes "the patient ought 

 to eat frequently of viper jelly, or rather as the viper-jeUy. 

 ancient manner was to boil vipers and eat them 

 like fish ; or if the food will not go down (though 

 really very good and delicious fare, to make use, 

 at least, of wine in which dried vipers have been 

 digested six or seven days in a gentle heat." 

 This was actually an acknowledged preparation 

 of the London Pharmacopoeia. About the mid- 

 dle of the seventeenth century, physicians were 

 in the habit of prescribing compounds which would 

 scarcely be relished by patients in the present day. 

 Charles II.'s physician in ordinary. Dr. Thomas ^^baS "' 



ganized condition o£ his tissues. This occurred at 11-50 

 a.m. In less than an hour the hand had swollen, and 

 his sight had become dim, while the pulse increased in 

 frequency. Soon there supervened acute pains, and the 

 respiration became laboured, with hcemorrhages and 

 excessive evacuation of urine. During the progress of 

 the symptoms, little medical interference was attempted 

 on the first day. He was given aqua ardente, the com- 

 mon spirit of the country, and made from the fermented 

 juice of the sugarcane. He died next day at 11-30." — 

 (Lancet, April 18th 1874.) 



