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CHAPTER X. 
THE ADDER—Continued, 
THE EFFECT OF ADDER VENOM. 
EFFECT ON ANIMALS—ON HUMAN BEINGS—-TREATMENT OF 
ADDER-BITE—CASES RECORDED—POPULAR CURES. 
Effect on animals.—The adder uses its poison 
apparatus for one of two purposes: either to secure 
its food or in self-defence. In the case of food the 
prey is by no means always killed in this way; 
more often indeed it is swallowed alive, and the 
poison-fangs only used in the case of large or very 
refractory articles of diet. 
Many animals perish every year even in this 
country from adder-bite, and probably many that 
are found dead on hills and commons are really the 
victins of our venomous reptile. ‘Those most. fre- 
quently bitten are doys, sheep, and cattle. Mr C. 
N. Rogers informs me that im Corwall dogs are 
often killed from adder-hite, and that this is more 
