ned its
mouth towards the arm of the person who held it.

How exactly this account agrees with the words of Silius,

"---- _tactuque_ graves _sopire_ chelydros."

The Nubian traveller informs us that the Arabs--meaning apparently the
Moslem blacks--have not this secret naturally, but that from infancy
they acquire an exemption from the mortal consequences attending the
bites of all venomous reptiles by chewing a certain root, and washing
themselves (it is not _anointing_) with an infusion of certain plants in
water. This is by no means improbable; and it were much to be desired
that the root and the plants were obtained and identified, that their
preventive powers might be tested by competent men of science. In all
probability they would be found to belong to the Quassia tribe, the
natural order _Simarubaceae_, plants of the tropical regions of both
continents, whose juices are of an intense bitterness. An infusion of
the chips of _Quassia amara_ and of _Simaruba amara_ is found to be an
effectual poison to flies; and the Brazilian Indians use an infusion of
_Simaruba versicolor_ as a specific against the bite of serpents, and
use it with great effect in the pediculous diseases which are so common
among that people.

It was a plant of this order, _Simaba cedron_, on which experiments were
made a few years ago, at the Zoological Gardens, just before the
lamentable death, by the bite of the Cobra, of poor Gurling, who,
indeed, assisted in them. Mr Squire, the eminent chemist, was desirous
of testing the powers of this plant, which, dried and reduced to powder,
is in high repute among the Indians of South America as a serpentifuge.
Dr Quain and Mr Evans concurred in this desire; and, with the permission
of the Zoological Society of London, a series of experiments, of much
interest, if not very conclusive in their results, were performed at the
Gardens, on the 8th July 1852.

The trials were made only on small animals, but in each case the alleged
remedy proved inefficacious. The experimenters, however, think that it
would be unsafe to reject the _Simaba cedron_ as an antidote because it
here failed, inasmuch as death followed so rapidly that there was small
opportunity for its action. It is not until it shall have been tried and
have failed upon stronger animals, that, in the face of the experience
of the Indians in hot climates, it should be repudiated. The remedy was
applied in the form of an infusion poured d