V I P 



V 1 R 



afcribed to it are more uncertain. Dr. Lewis fays, that he 

 has known a viper taken every day for above a month, in dif- 

 orders of the leprous kind, without any apparent benefit. 



The form in which they are ufed to the bed advantage, is 

 that of broth, or jus viperinura. 



Viper's flefli ufed to be an ingredient in feveral of our 

 beft antidotes, as the theriaca Andromach. &c. 



The apothecaries alfo formerly fold the pulvis viperinus, 

 which is only dried vipers pulverized, heart, liver, and all, 

 and paffed through a fieve. This, to heighten the price, we 

 fuppofe, they call animal bezoard. 



The falts of vipers, whether volatile or fixed, alfo their 

 fat, or axungia, and their oil, chemically drawn, are drugs 

 that have been in confiderable repute. 



The fat of the viper is accounted particularly ufeful in 

 diforders of the eyes ; but what advantages it has above 

 other foft fats, is by no means clear. It was formerly fup- 

 pofed to have fome fpecific power of refilling the poifon of 

 the viper's bite, by being rubbed immediately on the 

 wounded part ; but experience has now fhewn, that common 

 oil is, in this intention, of equal efficacy. Lewis. See 

 Coluber Berus. 



Viper, Bites and Stings of, in jlnimah, the affeftions 

 which it produces in thefe ways. The bites of fuch reptiles 

 (Tiould conftanlly be guarded againll as much as poffible, as 

 they are not unfrequently attended with dangerous con- 

 fequences. Animals of the neat-cattle kind are more liable 

 to be bitten and ftung by thefe reptiles, than thofe of any 

 other fort of live-ftock. Inftanccs have been known where 

 die tongues of fuch cattle have even been bitten or ftung while 

 grazing or feeding, which have proved fatal. Such ftock 

 are, however, feldom attacked by reptiles of the adder kind, 

 except in cafes where thefe are difturbed by the animals in 

 pafturing or feeding ; which is the main reafon why fo 

 many of them are bitten or Hung about the head, and occa- 

 fionally the feet. There are moftly much pain, inflammation, 

 and fweUing produced by thefe bites and llings; the pro- 

 grefs of which may commonly be checked or Hopped, and 

 the complaint removed, by the ufe of fuch means as are 

 directed below. 



A fort of foft hquid of the liniment kind may be pre- 

 pared by mixing ftrong fpirit of hartlhorn, faponaceous 

 liniment, fpirit of turpentine, and tinfture of opium, with 

 olive-oil ; the former in the proportion of about two ounces 

 each to three of the laft, incorporating them well together 

 by fljaking them in a phial, which will be found very ufeful 

 in many cafes. A proper quantity of it fliould be well 

 rubbed upon the afTetled part, two or three times in the 

 courfe of the day, until the inflammation and fwelling begin 

 to difappear, after the bottle has been well fliaken. 



In the more dangerous cafea, it may often be advantageous 

 to ufe fomentations to the affefted parts, efpecially when 

 about the head, with the above application ; fuch as thofe 

 made by boiling white poppy-heads with the roots of the 

 marflimallow, the leaves of the large plantain, and the tops 

 of wormwood, in the quantities of a few ounces of the firft, 

 and a handful of each of the latter, when cut fmall, and 

 bruifed in five or fix quarts of the ftale grounds of malt 

 liquor. They may be applied frequently to the difeafed 

 parts, rubbing them afterwards each time well with the 

 above foft liquid liniment. Where there are feverifli ap- 

 pearances, as IS often the cafe in the fummer feafon, a proper 

 quantity of blood may fometimes be taken away with great 

 benefit, and a ftrong purge be afterwards given of the cool- 

 ing kind with much ufe. 



In flight cafes of this kind, fome think the continued free 

 ufe of fpirit of hartflvorn, given intenially, and applied ex- 



ternally to the affefted parts, is the beft remedy of any that 

 is yet known. 



As they are fo dangerous, thefe reptiles (hould always be 

 deftroyed as much as poffible in all paftures and grazing 

 grounds. 



Viper Wine, Vinum Viperinum, is a preparation of vipers 

 infufed in wine. It is commonly made by macerating for 

 a week, with a gentle heat, two ounces of the dried flefli 

 in three pints of mountain. This has been deemed a great 

 reftorative, and provocative to venery, and alfo good againll 

 cutaneous eruptions, &c. 



But Dr. Lewis obferves, that it cannot perhaps be 

 affirmed from fair experience, that this wine has any great 

 virtue. 



Viper'j- Buglofs, in Botany. See EcHIU^f. 



The flowers of the viper's buglofs are fuppofed to polTefs 

 the virtue of cordials, in the fame degree with the borage 

 and buglofs. Some authors greatly recommend a decoftion 

 of the dried plant in epilepfies. It is faid that very fingular 

 cures have been done by it. 



Viper'j Grafs. See Scorzonera. 



The roots of the common viper's grafs, or fcorzonera 

 Hifpanica of Linnaeus, have been employed indifferently as 

 alexipharmics, and in hypochondriacal diforders andobftruc- 

 tions of the vifcera ; but at prefent are more properly con- 

 fidered as ahmentary articles, in general falubrious, and 

 moderately nutritious. They abound with a milky juice, 

 of a foft, fweetifli tafte, but which, in drying, contrafts a 

 fligh* bitternefs. Extrafts made from them by water are 

 confiderably fweet and mucilaginous : extraiSls made by 

 reftified fpirit have a lefs degree of fweetiftinefs, accom- 

 panied with a flight grateful warmth. 



In Cartheuler's experiments, the fpirituous extraft 

 amounted to one-third the weight of the root, and the 

 watery to above one-half. Lewis. 



Viper Key, in Geography, one of the Tortugas iflands. 



VIPERA PiLEATA, or Vittata, in Zoology, a name by 

 which fome authors have called a remarkable fpecies of 

 Indian ferpent, more ufually known by the name of Cobra 

 de capella. 



VIPERARIA, in Botany, a name given by fome 

 authors to itie fcor'zonera, or viper's grafs. 



VIPITANUM, in jneient Geography, a town of Ger- 

 many, between Veldidana and Sublavio, thought to be the 

 prefent Stortzingen, or rather Amoluz, a village at the 

 foot of mount Brenner. 



VIPPACH, in Geography, a town of Germany, in the 



territory of Erfurt ; 8 miles N. of Erfurt Alfo, a river 



of Thuringia, which runs into the Gram ; 3 miles S. of 

 Somnierda. 



ViPPACM^ March, a town of Germany, in the principality 

 of Eifenach ; 7 miles N.E. of Erfurt. 



VIPULZAN, a town of Auflria, in the county of 

 Goritz ; 6 miles W. of Goritz. 



VIQUE, or ViCQ, a town of Spain, in Catalonia ; the 

 fee of a biftiop, fuffragan of Tarragona ; 22 miles W.S.W. 

 of Gerona. N. lat. 41=54'. E. long. 2" 8'. 



VI R, in Ancient Geography, a river of Spain, the mouth 

 of which, according to Ptolemy, is near the promontory on 

 which was the altau-s of the fun. 



VIRABADRA, in Hindoo Mythology, a warlike cha- 

 rafter, ufuaOy fpoken of as a fon of Siva, the avenging 

 form of the trimurti, or divine triad of that polytheiftic 

 race. (See SiVA and Trimurti.) Sometimes he is faid 

 to be an incarnation of Siva. He is ufually reprefented 

 four-armed ; holding a fvtord, fliield, bow, and arrow ; and 

 in a threatening purfuing pofture, accompanied by Sivean 



attributes ; 



