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A DESCRIPTION OF 
tame these creatures, and teach them to dance ; by moving 
when they have raised themselves on their tail ; an art 
very well known and highly esteemed among the ancients, 
who took it for a sort of sorcery. David mentions it in 
the fifty-eighth Psalm, where he says: tl Their poison is 
like the poison of a Serpent ; they are like the deaf Adder, 
that stoppeth her ear : which will not hearken to the voice 
of charmers, charming ever so wisely." 
THE VIPER, OR ADDER, (Vipera bena,) 
Is a venomous animal, a species of serpent that seldom ex- 
ceeds the length of two or three feet ; it is of a dull yellow 
colour with black spots, and the abdomen entirely black ; 
the head is nearly in the shape of a lozenge, and much 
thicker than the body. The Viper is viviparous, yet it is 
