As the Viperine Venom is the Quintessence and most active Part of those Animal Juices with which the Viper is nourished, so is also That of the Scorpion; for this Insect lives chiefly upon Locusts, &c. and the same Person from Barbary inform’d Me, That seeing oftentimes Locusts sticking up in the Ground as if they were Set there, by looking he found that some Part of them was always eat away, and that these Places were the Holes of Scorpions, who had dragg’d their Prey thither, and fed on it as they had Occasion.
In like manner, as the Axungia Viperina cures the Bite of the Viper, so also the Oleum Scorpionum, or Oil in which Scorpions have been infused, is a present Remedy for the Sting of this Creature.
The Mechanism of the Sting of a Bee, Dr. Hooke has very accurately described [(46)]. One may with the naked Eye sometimes see it discharge the Venom; and in this, by the help of a Glass, I can easily discover a great Number of Minute Salts Floating.
And indeed this Apparatus or Contrivance is so universal, that we find even in Vegetables something Analogous hereunto; for the last mention’d Author [(47)], has shewn Us, That the pricking Points of Nettles do at the same time they pierce the Skin, instil a Venomous Juice into the Wound.
Footnotes to Essay I.
[(1)] Lib. 2. Cap. 74.
[(2)] De Animalib. lib. 17. c. 5.
[(3)] Bœotic. p. m. 303.
[(4)] Not. in Alpin. de Plant. Ægypt. Cap. 14.
[(5)] Purchase’s Pilgrimage, l. 5. c. 12.