THE ADDER. 141 
bus curantur.” John Marshall assured me that the 
man recovered splendidly and speedily.” 
It seems almost a pity to add that Mr Wilhams’s 
paper was entitled “ Local Superstitions.” 
Our ancestors had some very interesting methods 
of ridding localities of adders and of curing the bite, 
and in some ancient books there are some appalling 
prescriptions to be found. The following are from a 
work published in the year 1792, the author being 
William Augustus Osbaldistone, Esq., the volume 
being entitled ‘The British Sportsman, or Noble- 
man, Gentleman, and Farmer’s Dictionary. Under 
the heading “Adder-Stung” these remedies are 
inentioned :— 5 
“ Ointments.—I. Garlic, onions, bacon, and baysalt, 
stamped together. 
“TT. Stamped rue, mustard-seed, pickled herrings, 
and black soap, with a sufficient quantity of deer’s 
suet or bear’s grease. 
“TIT. Cover the wound with Venice treacle or mith- 
ridate: either of these are very good, especially if the 
spirituous embrocations used for gangrene be also 
used. 
“TV. Dragon’s blood,t barley-meal, and whites of 
eges, mixed to a thick consistence. 
“ Solleysel recommends the following remedy, which 
indeed is not improper, only that the scarcity of the 
chief ingredients renders the preparation very dear in 
i Dragon’s blood refers to the name of a plant, I fancy. 
