III. We come now to the sensible Region, where animal Poisons reign; that is, Poison drawn from Animals, as the Viper, Asp, Scorpion, Lepus Marinus: and here we are to encounter with an Army of Serpents, and their formidable Train.
When we speak of the Poison of Serpents, we must not suppose it diffused thro’ the whole Body, as some have imagined. Many Errors about the particular Situation of it, have been happily removed by the Learned Dr. Redi, and Dr. Mead, who observes the Viper has always been so notorious for its Poison, that the most remote Antiquity, made it an Emblem of what is hurtful and destructive, but were not agreed from whence the Poison proceeded, whether from the Saliva, the Teeth, the Gall, &c. which leads me to a Passage in the noble Italian, who says:
... That as a certain Learned Society in Italy were debating this Point, one Jacobus Sozzi (audiendi gratiâ) who was allow’d to be present, stationed himself in a corner of the Place, and hearing some of them affirm that the Poison was in the Gall-bladder, fell a smiling; and being ask’d the Reason, he answer’d, that the Serpent’s Gall was an innocent Part: Whereupon, in their Presence, he drank a Glass of Wine, mixt with the Gall of a Viper, without any ill Effect.
One of the Company said, he came thither with his Body prepared by Alexipharmicks. He, to convince them of the contrary, try’d the Experiment upon Dogs, and other Animals, by giving them the Gall of Vipers to drink in abundance, without any Danger ensuing[[46]].
[46]. Redi nobilis Aretini Experim. in Res Naturales, pag. 163, 164, 165.
In the Debate about the Seat of the Poison, the famous Italian maintains, that all the Venom of a Serpent consists in a yellow Liquor contain’d in a Bladder, at the bottom of its Tooth, which Liquor, upon its biting, by the Pressure of the Bladder, is forced thro’ a Tube within the Tooth, into the Wound, and thence ensue direful Effects. This Hypothesis he supports by a good number of Experiments upon various Animals, which were bit by a Viper, after those venemous Bags were taken out, without any Signs of Poison, or any ill Consequence at all[[47]].
[47]. Seignior Redi.
Another celebrated Physician maintains, that this yellow Liquid is not poisonous, that he had given it to Pigeons as Food, without their being at all disorder’d thereby.—That the Viper’s Bite, he had always found mortal to Animals, even after the venemous Bag was taken out, as well as before.—That therefore the Poison must lie in the irritated Spirits of the Viper, which it exhales in the Ardor of its biting, and which are so cold that they curdle the Blood, and stop the Circulation[[48]].
[48]. Monsieur Charras.
Both these are ingenious Men; their Systems are opposite, yet both maintain’d by well-attested Experiments. The Publick, however, give into the Sentiments of Seignior Redi, as answering the best to the Mechanism of the Parts.