r 444 ] 
warm Oil. Laft of all he mentions the great Secret of 
the Viper- catchers, that is, the Fat of Vipers*, which, 
he thinks, acts in the fame manner as the Olive oil. 
VII. Abjlrafis of two Letters from M. Dufay, 
j P. R. S. <&c. to Dr. Mortimer, Seer. R. S. 
concerning the Efficacy of Oil of Olives in 
curing the Bite of Vipers. 
Part of a Letter from Monf Dufay to Dr. Mor- 
timer, dated at Paris, Aug. 8. 1737. [ Tranfated 
from the French, by T. S. M. D.] 
A FTER I had given the Academy an Account 
of your Obfervations on the Remedy againft 
the Bite of Vipers , a Committee was appointed to 
make the fame Experiments here. But whether it 
be, that our Vipers are more venomous than yours, 
or that the Bites were more confiderable, of the 
feveral Pigeons and Fowls that were bit, not one 
recover’d, though they were immediately rubbed 
'with Oil. They died in a Quarter of an Flour, or 
in an Hour’s time at fartheft. The like Experiments 
have been made on feveral other Animals 5 but as the 
Gentlemen are refolved to repeat them, I do not 
fend you an Account of them. All I can fay at 
prefent is, that the Remedy feems to be not fo fure 
here as in England where I find by the publick 
News-papers, that a Rattlefnake has been lately 
brought, and that its Bite has been cured by the fame 
Remedy. Signed , 
Dufay. 
Abjlratt 
