42 ADANSONIA. 
rude and reduced copy of the wondrously magni- 
ficent American aloe. 
ADANSONIA, — popularly Sour Gourp. An 
evergreen tree of the silk-cotton-tree order ; and 
the bulkiest in stem known to botanists. Itisa 
native of Congo in Africa, and grows there to so 
enormous a bulk as to be the vegetable wonder 
of the world, yet does not attain a remarkable 
size under European culture, nor even in the 
open grounds of countries adjoining Congo. Mr. 
Adanson, whose name it bears, was a celebrated 
Senegal as a surgeon, and who discovered the 
tree, sent home seeds of it to Hurope, and made 
measurements of several specimens of it on the 
spot. The trees which he measured were re- 
markable, not for height or for a spreading body 
of foliage, but for their vast mass of solid or den- 
dritic matter; their stems had a circumference 
of from 65 to 78 feet ; their branches deflected 
| in great numbers, and somewhat horizontally 
from the trunks, at the height of from 12 to 15 
feet from the ground, and were from 40 to 45 
feet long, bending at their extremities to the 
| ground, and each equal in bulk to an enormous 
tree ; and their roots, so far as they could be 
traced in places where they were laid open by a 
stream, were ascertained to be 110 feet in length, 
exclusive of portions which remained covered. 
| The stem of the Adansonia is woody, but of soft 
texture, and has a large swelling near the root. 
| The leaves toward the lower part of the young 
| branches are single and spear-shaped; but those 
at the extremities are three-lobed or five-lobed, 
and spread out like a hand. The fruit is large 
_ and oval, with a hard shell like a gourd ; and the 
seeds are lodged in a soft pulp, and are dark in 
_ colour, and shaped almost like the nuts of choco- 
| late. 
The natives use the fruit-shell as a culi- 
nary vessel ; they manufacture the fibres of the 
bark into ropes and coarse cloth; and they use 
the small leaves for food in times of scarcity, and 
the large leaves for thatch to their houses or for 
incineration to be manufactured into soap. Seeds 
of the Adansonia were sown in several gardens of 
England in 1724; and the young plants grew to 
the height of 18 feet ; but in the severe winter 
of 1740, all were destroyed. The tree is called 
by the natives 6aob0b, and by botanists Adan- 
sonia digitata. A great many plants of it have 
recently been grown in some parts of the United 
States of America. 
ADDER or Common Viprr—zoologically, Vi- 
_ pera vulgaris or Vipera communis. A well-known 
venomous serpent, the terror of many a farm and 
parish, in various districts of England and Scot- 
land. It occurs in most countries of Europe, and 
abounds in all the chalk districts of England, in 
some parts of Yorkshire, and in numerous parts 
of both the lowlands and the highlands of Scot- 
land. It prefers dry woods, sandy heaths, dry 
moors, peaty lands, sunny banks, small bogs, old 
dry stone-fences, and similar localities. Several 
French botanist, who resided for some years in 
ADDER’S TONGUE. 
varieties of it are met with, so different from one 
another as to have been regarded by some natu- 
ralists as different species,—such as the black 
viper, the common viper, the red viper, and the 
blue-bellied viper; but all have been ascertained 
to possess strictly one specific character. The 
adder, though justly an object of aversion and 
dread, is by no means so noxious a creature as is 
commonly believed. It never makes an unpro- 
voked attack ; but is induced to bite only when 
suddenly molested, or when obliged to act in 
self-defence. The chief danger to any person 
walking in its vicinity consists in coming close 
upon it, and appearing to intend it damage, 
while it is unobserved. Its bite, too, though 
quite painful and venomous enough to be matter 
of serious apprehension, is exceedingly far from 
being necessarily fatal; and probably may, in 
every instance, with a due degree of care, be 
somewhat easily cured. In a moss in the neigh- 
bourhood of Bucklyvie, in Scotland, a farm-ser- 
vant, while engaged in cutting peats, a few years 
ago, was stung by an adder, and died in conse- 
quence of the wound in about ten days. The 
first precaution to be observed in a case of this 
kind, is, when the disposition of the parts will 
permit, to fix a ligature above the wounded place, 
and not to tighten it too much, for fear of giving 
rise to mortification. Immediately after, a cup- 
ping-glass is applied on the wound, the parts ad- 
jacent being first scarified ; and this mode, highly 
praised by Celsus, has very recently been attend- 
ed with happy results in the hands of Messrs. 
Mangili, Barry, and Bouillaud. This method, 
from analogy, affords an additional recommenda- 
tion to employ the plan of suction, which has re- 
ceived the further confirmation of professional | 
experiments tried by a number of physiologists 
and physicians. When the cupping- glass has 
performed its office, the lips of the wound, already 
scarified, should be cauterized deeply and exten- 
sively. This should be done with a red-hot iron, 
chloride of antimony, or concreted potassium. 
A variety of different substances, taken inter- 
nally, has been lauded from time to time as effi- 
cacious against the bite of the viper. Sudorifics 
have been especially recommended. Fomenta- 
tions of warm vinegar, an aqueous solution of 
sal ammoniac, or a solution of sugar-of-lead in 
water, with the addition of a little camphorated 
spirit, may be applied when horses or dogs have 
been bitten by vipers. In ordinary cases relief 
will be afforded by applying salad oil to the in 
jured part, and also giving it internally. The 
name adder, by which the viper is popularly 
known, appears to be a corruption of the reptile’s 
name in the language of the Welch or of the 
ancient British. ; 
ADDER’S TONGUE—botanically Ophioglos- 
sum. A genus of ferns, comprising one indigenous 
species, six cultivated exotic species, and about 
six unintroduced exotic species. The indigenous 
kind, Ophioglossum vulgatum, is the type of a 
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