38 
POISON OF SNAKES. 
sium is decomposed by the nitrous vapours of the air, and by 
the volatile oils which are evaporated from aromatic plants ; 
and he finds that even the moisture of the air of a closed 
room acts in the same way on this reagent, and also that the 
oxygen emitted from the green parts of plants has no ozone 
reaction on iodide of potassium. 
POISON OF SNAKES. 
A belief in the existence of some antidote to “tiff en- 
venom’d sting” exists in all countries where poisonous 
snakes abound. Bruce states that the Arabs possess a know- 
ledge of certain roots, which, when chewed and aided by an 
external use of the infusion, protects them from injury by 
venomous reptiles. The American aborigines place great 
faith in the efficacy of some half-dozen plants, and, according 
to Silliman, carry their credulity so far as to believe that even 
the smell of the leaves of the Fraxinus Americana (or white 
ash) is intolerable to the rattlesnake. Several of these 
reputed antidotes have been examined and found altogether 
inefficacious. In other instances botanists have not yet pre- 
cisely determined the plant to which the natives refer. The 
Guaco or Huaco is one of these. It has been dubbed with 
the name of Fujoatorium MiJciana , and specimens found by the 
Magdalena were called MiJciana Guaco by Humboldt and 
Bonpland. But a specimen recently obtained from the 
natives at Honduras presents many of the characters of the 
Serpentariae. The Society of Arts held a meeting last week 
to test the virtues, preventive and curative, of this new plant. 
By special request of several distinguished persons, two puff- 
adders from the Zoological Gardens kindly consented to 
appear, for this occasion only, as first and second murderers. 
A rabbit, after swallowing a dose of the infusion, was sub- 
mitted to their notice, was duly bitten, and provokingly died ; 
its mouth being so firmly clenched that a fair dose of the 
tincture of the plant could not be administered. The experi- 
ments are to be repeated. Whether successful or not, it is 
very creditable to the Society of Arts that they have under- 
taken this investigation, now that railways in India and 
elsewhere are stretching their long arms through jungles and 
thick forests hitherto only inhabited by “ creeping things 
that revel in their spoil.” The discovery of an unfailing 
antidote may thus save thousands of lives. If the first ex- 
