140 BRITISH SERPENTS. 
the fat being cut out of the adder imimediately after 
the bite has occurred (presuming, of course, that the 
adder was killed), and forthwith applied to the wound. 
In some parts of Surrey, I am told, the shepherds 
always carry a bottle of adder-oil to apply to any 
sheep that may be bitten. The application of sweet- 
oil to the bite, or its internal administration, is often 
to be found recommended, the idea being that the oil 
is supposed to have some power of preventing the ab- 
sorption of the venom. Personally, I should not like 
to depend on the efficacy of oil to counteract the effect 
of a poison which has been injected directly into the 
circulation ; and oilis one of the things I dispense with 
on an adder-hunt, though I do like to have a sharp lance 
and some powerful stimulant at hand. In some parts 
of Scotland quite a different method of cure is trusted 
to, based on more Scriptural grounds. This plan is 
mentioned in a paper read by the Rev. George 
the Stirling Natural History Society. He there says: 
“The Moss of Boquhapple is a favourite nursery for 
adders. A man having been bitten by one of these 
poisonous animals, John Marshall (who died a few 
months ago) was instantly despatched to fetch a live 
pigeon. The bird was torn to pieces, and the warm 
flesh was apphed to the wound to extract the venom ; 
because the flesh of the gentle dove is totally antagon- 
istic to the poisonous bite of the viper’s brood—an 
exception to the old medical principle, ‘ similia simili- 
