Chap. IX.] 



CECILIA GLUTIXOSA. 



317 



Cape in 1772^ which was imported for them " from the 

 Indies, especially from Malabar/' at so high a price 

 that few of the farmers could afford to possess them- 

 selves of it ; he describes it as convex on one side, 

 black, and so porous that 66 when thrown into water, 

 it caused bubbles to rise ;" and hence, by its absorbent 

 qualities, it served, if speedily applied, to extract the 

 poison from the wound. 1 



Gcecilia. — The rocky jungle, bordering the higher 

 coffee estates, provides a safe retreat for a very singular 

 animal, first introduced to the notice of European 

 naturalists about a century ago by Linnaous, who 

 gave it the name Ccecilia glutinosa, to indicate two 

 peculiarities manifest to the ordinary observer — an 

 apparent defect of vision, from the eyes being so small 

 and embedded as to be scarcely distinguishable ; and a 

 power of secreting from minute pores in the skin a 



1 Thunberg, vol. i. p. 155. Since "Use. — The wound being slightly 

 the foregoing account was pub- punctured, apply the bone to the 

 lished, I have received a note from opening, to which it will adhere 

 Mr. Hardy, relative to the piedra firmly for the space of two minutes ; 

 ponsona, the snake-stone of Mexico, and when it falls, it should be re- 

 in which he gives the following ceived into a basin of water. It 

 account of the method of pre- should then be dried in a cloth, 

 paring and applying it: "Take a and again applied to the wound, 

 piece of hart's horn of any con- But it will not adhere longer than 

 venient size and shape ; cover it about one minute. In like manner 

 well round with grass or hay, it may be applied a third time; 

 enclose both in a thin piece of but now it will fall almost imme- 

 sheet copper well wrapped round diately, and nothing will cause it 

 them, and place the parcel in a to adhere any more, 

 charcoal fire till the bone is suffi- " These effects I witnessed in the 

 ciently charred. case of a bite of a rattle-snake at 



"When cold, remove the calcined Oposura, a town in the province of 



horn from, its envelope, when it Sonora, in Mexico, from whence I 



will be ready for immediate use. obtained my recipe; and I have 



In this state it will resemble a given other particulars respecting 



solid black fibrous substance, of it in my Travels in the Interior of 



the same shape and size as before Mexico, published in 1830. E. 



it was subjected to this treat- W. H. Hardy. Bath, 30th Janu- 



ment. ary, 1860." 



