I think that a moderate degree of labour and observation bestowed upon the investigation of the species already described, would prove the unity in nature of some species which have been considered as distinct by all the authors, would detect many errors in observation, expose some deceptions practised on credulity by the designing, and would enable us to fix, with some degree of accuracy, our knowledge of truth and of the species.
A work devoted particularly to this class, by some one adequate to the task, who could have in his view all the known species, is indeed a desideratum.
Scytale cupreus, Copper-head, &c. of Mr. Rafinesque. I have always considered the Copper-head to be no other than the Cenchris mockeson of authors, and Boa contortrix of Linn. v. Latr. Lacep. Shaw, Daudin, &c. Agkistrodon mokasen of Beauvois; which opinion is not a little corroborated by an actual comparison of one of these animals in Peale's Museum, with the descriptions of the authors above mentioned. It may be objected to me, that the mockeson of those naturalists is a Cenchris, and not a Scytale, therefore generically distinguished from the Copper-head; but on the other hand, we know that the genus Cenchris does not exist in nature, that the individual upon which it was founded, was either a fortuitous variety, or that the illustrious naturalist was deceived by the desiccation of his specimen, giving to the basal caudal plates a bifid aspect. That the former was the case I analogically infer, from having seen, in the collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences, a Coluber heterodon, of which the fifth and sixth pairs of caudal scales were entire, and not as usual bifid. An additional corroboration of the truth of this inference is derived from the circumstance of the Scytale of Peale's Museum, having the ten or eleven apical caudal plates bifid, precisely as in the genus Acanthophis, to which it seems closely affianced, and to which it would be referred if this character was a permanent one. In every other character this specimen coincides with the S. mockeson of authors, and in every necessary respect with the S. cupreus of Mr. R. with the sole exception of the calcarate termination of the tail. This caudal horn seems to approximate Mr. R's. animal to the S. piscivorus or true horn-snake, about which the credulous have so absurdly alarmed themselves, and which was arranged with the Crotali by Lacepede, in consequence of having a horn on the tail an inch long. We find sometimes a small indurated tip to the tail of Coluber melanoleucus,[33] at least upon some full grown specimens, formed by the elongation and appression of the terminal scales; a larger one on that of the European viper, and of the Acanthophis cerastes, and Brownii. Mr. Peale's specimen certainly has not the horn, but it has at the termination of the tail a scale somewhat longer and more indurated than the others, the individual had not attained his full growth. If then this species (and some others) is subject to vary in the form of its caudal plates, from which the generic characters are in part estimated, may it not also vary in the armature of the tail, which at most can only be considered as specific. The Copper-belly is a very distinct species. If the S. cupreus is, notwithstanding the above observations, considered a distinct species, it would gratify those who cultivate natural history, to have some good discriminative characters of it.
Much has been said and written about antidotes to the venomous bites of snakes, and Mr. Rafinesque enumerates over again several plants which have been said to be, and which he appears to believe to be specifics. If the case was my own, I would be very unwilling to rely upon either of the 20 or 30 medicinal plants, dubiously mentioned by the late Professor Barton, as reputed antidotes for this poison. It would be more prudent to resort unhesitatingly to a more certain remedy, in the ligature, and immediate excision of the part, where such an operation was practicable, or to cauterization, if the part could not be removed by the knife.
In conversation with Professor Cooper upon this subject, he informed me that in his domestic medical practice he applied common chalk to the wounds occasioned by the stings of hymenopterous insects. That in consequence of this mode of treatment, the pain was immediately allayed, and the consequent inflammation and intumescence were prevented. The experiment which led to this result was induced by the supposition that the venomous liquid might be an acid, which opinion was, in some degree, justified by the event.[34] Upon the same neutralizing principle it must be supposed that any alkali would be beneficial. The learned Professor supposed, that the venom of the poisonous reptilia may, in like manner, be an acid secretion, and recommends this to be ascertained by experiments upon the liquid itself.
If this inference proves correct, the same alkaline remedy may be employed to neutralize, or so modified as to stimulate, in case, as is supposed by some, the poison produces upon the system a typhoid action.
An instance however is related in the Trans. Royal Soc. of Lond. of the unsuccessful administration of the vol. alkali in case of the bite of a Rattle-snake; and an intelligent physician of Georgia informed me, that he had applied the same stimulant in vain for the cure of the bites of poisonous snakes, but that being once stung by a Scorpion, he was instantaneously relieved by the topical use of this liquid. He further related to me a cure performed under his observation, by means of the singular antidote, which has often been resorted to in case of snake bites, that of the application of a living domestic fowl or other bird directly to the wound; three fowls were applied in this instance, of which two died in a few minutes, it was supposed, by the poison extracted from the wound. This account, from an observant medical professor, (who may nevertheless have been deceived) acquires some additional title to consideration by a similar event which lately occurred at Schooley's Mountain, New-Jersey. We are informed from a respectable source, that a boy was there bitten by a Copper-head, (Scytale mockeson.)[35] The part was immediately painful, became swollen and inflamed, and the sufferer had every appearance of having received a dangerous wound. A portion of the breast of a fowl was denudated of feathers, and applied to the wound; in a few minutes the fowl died, without having experienced any apparent violence or injurious pressure, from the hand of the applicant, the breast exhibiting a livid appearance. Another living fowl was then laid open by the knife, and the interior of the body placed upon the wound. The wound was subsequently scarified, and variously administered to. The boy however recovered, and his cure was generally attributed, at least in part, to the application of the birds. I am as far as any one from relying implicitly upon this mode of treatment, and would only resort to it when the part bitten could not be extirpated, and when a cautery was not at hand. Yet it must be confessed, that from the numerous attestations to its efficacy we should be almost led to suppose a very strong affinity to exist between the venom and the animal thus applied.
That so numerous a catalogue of plants have gained credit with the uninformed as specifics, will not be surprising, when we know that the reservoir of the venom is very readily exhausted and slowly replenished. When this reservoir is vacated, the reptile is of course innoxious, and the most inert plant would then stand a good chance of gaining reputation with the credulous as a specific.
For a similar reason we have so many cures for the bite of a rabid animal; and it may be for a similar reason that the body of an animal has acquired repute as an antidote, against the venom of a serpent.
Coluber trivittata of Mr. R. [p. 80], of this work. Judging from the descriptive name and the locality, is the C. sirtalis of authors, or possibly the C. saurita or C. ordinatus. These serpents have each the three vittæ, though in the two former this trait is much more striking. I know of no other serpent in our vicinity to which the name can be characteristically applied. The ordinatus has been called bipunctatus and ibibe by the French school. What is the difference between sirtalis and saurita? they must be very closely allied, if not synonymous.