POISON OF THE VIPER.

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pulations of fundamental interest. At Naples in 1804, Ibethought me of experimenting on the poison of the viper,and having just read the well known results of ProfessorFontana’s experiments on that poison, I undertook to repeatthem, for my own satisfaction, both as to knowledge, andfor the power of rendering assistance to others, in case ofneed.

Without stopping to repeat the various experiments Imade, I will only state, that I found the nitrate of silver tobe a complete neutraliser of the poison. A pigeon prickedwith a needle imbrued with the pure poison, dies in threeor four minutes. Mix the poison with a minute quantity ofscraped nitrate of silver, and apply it in the same way,great inflammation ensues, but not death. An animalbittenby a viper, is more or less affected, according to the partbitten. The nose of a cow, for instance, contains few bloodvessels, or absorbing vessels. That part is bitten with com-parative impunity. The leg, on the contrary, is much ex-posed to danger, and I have known many cows, calves,goats, and dogs, perish through being bitten in that part.

The poison of a full-grown viper amounts in quantity tomore than two large drops, one contained in the sheath ofeach fang, which is very similar in construction to that of theclaws of a cat. This poison is of a yellow colour, and of theconsistency of cream.

The fangs are two in number, placed on the roof of themouth, inserted into two bones, which form an angle openingtowards the back of the mouth. They are jointed at the base,so that, when not called into use, they lie down immersed inthe poison bag. Besides being hollow like a horn, and a holenear the point for the exit of the poison, they have a groovealong their whole length, to aid in the same providentialarrangement. Upon causing a viper, on which I had placedmy foot, to bite my boot, the more violently he pressed his