216 
H. C. YARROW. 
SNAKE BITE AND ITS ANTIDOTE.—1. 
EXPERIMENTS WITH CROTALUS VENOM AND REPUTED ANTI- 
DOTES, WITH NOTES ON THE SALIVA OF HELODERMA 
(“ GILA MONSTER.”) 
By H. C. Yarrow, M.D., Curator Department Reptiles, U. S. National 
Museum. 
(From Forest and Stream). 
In 1664, Francisco Redi, an Italian, of whom Huxley says 
he was “a man of the widest knowledge and most versatile abil¬ 
ities, distinguished alike as a scholar, poet, physician and natural¬ 
ist,” published the first work extant upon the nature of serpent 
venom. It was called “ Osservazione Intorno alle Vipera,” and 
was printed at Florence. 
In this rare book are corrected many of the popular supersti¬ 
tions and fallacies prevalent at that time. Although little was 
added to our actual knowledge of the properties of venom and its 
composition, still the author is entitled to the credit of having 
been the pioneer in this class of literature. From Redi’s time 
up to the present day, a multitude of observers in this country 
and abroad have given to this subject much patient study and 
research, with a view to discover some means by which the suffer¬ 
ing and deaths due to serpent venom might be averted. 
In 1672 there was published in Paris a volume of 245 pages, 
by Moyse Cbaras, entitled “ Nouvelles Experiences sur la Yipere,” 
which contained a reply to certain strictures upon his work made 
by Redi, and it is interesting to note the many curious remedies 
suggested by this writer, who appears to have placed great faith 
in what he calls the “ sel volatile de la vipere,” a preparation 
made by distilling chopped-up vipers, old and young. 
In 1702 Dr. Richard Mead—afterward physician to George 
II. in 1827—published an account of his investigations upon the 
subject of snake poisoning, which is interesting although not of 
much practical value. 
From 1702 for sixty odd years nothing of consequence was 
published, but in 1767 at Lucca appeared the great work of Felix 
Fontana, entitled “ Richerche Filosofiche Sopra il Yeneno della 
