NOTES ON SERPENTS.
(Vol. ii., p. 130.; Vol. vi., p. 177.—Vol. iii., p. 490.; Vol. vi., pp. 42. 147.)
Loskiel, in his account of the Moravian missions to the North American Indians[[5]], tells us that,—
"The Indians are remarkably skilled in curing the bite of venomous serpents, and have found a medicine peculiarly adapted to the bite of each species. For example, the leaf of the Rattlesnake-root (Polygala senega) is the most efficacious remedy against the bite of this dreadful animal. God has mercifully granted it to grow in the greatest plenty in all parts most infested by the rattlesnake. It is very remarkable that this herb acquires its greatest perfection just at the time when the bite of these serpents is the most dangerous.... Virginian Snake-root (Aristolochia serpentaria) chewed, makes also an excellent poultice for wounds of this sort.... The fat of the serpent itself, rubbed into the wound, is thought to be efficacious. The flesh of the rattlesnake, dried and boiled to a broth, is said to be more nourishing than that of the viper, and of service in consumptions. Their gall is likewise used as medicine."—P. 146.
Pigs are excepted from the dreadful effects of their bite; they will even attack and eat them. It is said that, if a rattlesnake is irritated and cannot be revenged, it bites itself, and dies in a few hours:
"Wird dieses Thier zornig gemacht, und es kann sich nicht rächen, so beiszt es sich selbst, und in wenig Stunden ist es todt."—P. 113.[[6]]
"I have seen some of our Canadians eat these rattlesnakes repeatedly. The flesh is very white, and they assured me had a delicious taste. Their manner of dressing them is very simple.... Great caution, however, is required in killing a snake for eating; for if the first blow fails, or only partially stuns him, he instantly bites himself in different parts of the body, which thereby become poisoned, and would prove fatal to any person who should partake of it."—Cox's Adv. on the Columbia River: Lond. 1832, p. 74.
"Dr. Fordyce knew the black servant of an Indian merchant in America, who was fond of soup made of rattlesnakes, in which he always boiled the head along with the rest of the animal, without any regard to the poisons."—Rees's Cyclopædia.
"There is a religious sect in Africa, not far from Algiers, which eat the most venomous serpents alive; and certainly, it is said, without extracting their fangs. They declare they enjoy the privilege from their founder. The creatures writhe and struggle between their teeth; but possibly, if they do bite them, the bite is innocuous."
Mrs. Crowe, in the concluding chapter of her Night-side of Nature, gives the testimony of an eye-witness to "the singular phenomenon to be observed by placing a scorpion and a mouse together under a glass."
"It is known that stags renew their age by eating serpents; so the phœnix is restored by the nest of spices she makes to burn in. The pelican hath the same virtue, whose right foot, if it be put under hot dung, after three months a pelican will be bred from it. Wherefore some physicians, with some confections made of a viper and hellebore, and of some of the flesh of these creatures, do promise to restore youth, and sometimes they do it."[[7]]
On reading any of our old herbalists, one would imagine that serpents (and those of the worst kind) abounded in "Merrie Englande," and that they were the greatest bane of our lives. It is