COMMON Viper. 367 



Fontana^ even in the warm climate of Italy, seems 

 to doubt whether any well-attested instance could 

 be adduced in which the viper had killed any per- 

 son by its bite : but so discordant are the testimo- 

 nies of authors on the subject, that the judgement 

 is necessarily left suspended, not only relative to 

 the effect of the bite, but to the nature of the poi- 

 son itself, and its effect on the animal frame either 

 when injected into the blood, or received into the 

 stomach. The poison of the Viper, according to 

 Dr. Mead, and his associates in the experiment, 

 is, when diluted with a little warm water, very 

 sharp and fiery when tasted with the tip of the 

 tongue, as if the tongue had been struck through 

 with something scalding or burning : this sensa- 

 tion went off in two or three hours ; and one gen- 

 tleman, who would not be satisfied without trying 

 a large drop undiluted, found his tongue swelled, 

 with a little inflammation ; and the soreness lasted 

 two days." On the contrary, the Abbe Fontana 

 and some others describe it as of no particular 

 acrimony of taste, but rather resembling oil or 

 gum ; and Dr. Russel, in his work on Indian Ser- 

 pents, affirms the same even of the poison of the 

 Cobra de Capello. Nearly equal contradictions 

 take place relative to the effect of the viperine 

 poison taken into the stomach ; Boerhaave quot- 

 ing the well-knoMai case of Jacob Sozzi, who at 

 the court of the Duke of Tuscany is said to have 

 swallowed three drams of this poison without ex- 

 periencing any ill effect ; while Fontana, on the 



