own the throat of the bitten
animal as quickly as possible after the stroke, and of the moistened
powder applied to the wound. It seems to me worthy of consideration
whether, in the light of what Bruce says of the Nubians, a washing of
the body with the infusion, or an imbibition of it, or both, _before_
the serpent's attack, might not be more efficacious as a preventive
either of the bite or of its results, than its administration afterwards
as a cure. Whatever be the substance with which the Nubians wash
themselves, it seems to communicate to the body some quality, perhaps of
odour, which repels and sickens serpents. Now, this may reside in the
intense bitterness of the _Simarubaceae_; and it would be worth while to
try whether a rattlesnake or a puff-adder would strike a guinea-pig that
had just been bathed in an infusion of the _Simaba_, or to which a dose
of the same had just been administered, and if so, whether the bite then
would be fatal. Even if these experiments yielded no positive result, it
would still be open to consider whether the lapse of time, or a long
sea-voyage, or exposure to our moist climate, may not have deprived the
powdered root of the plant of antitoxic properties which it may have
possessed when freshly prepared in its native region.

Tschudi, whose researches into the natural history of Peru are replete
with interesting and valuable information, has some observations on the
native remedies for serpent-bites which I will cite, prefacing the
extract with a graphically terrible picture from his pen of the venomous
reptiles themselves:--

"The serpents are to be feared; and, on approaching them, it is not easy
to decide at the first view whether they belong to a poisonous or
innoxious species. In the forests, where the fallen leaves lie in
thick moist layers, the foot of the hunter sinks deep at every step.
Multitudes of venomous Amphibia are hatched in the half-putrescent
vegetable matter; and he who inadvertently steps on one of these
animals may consider himself uncommonly fortunate if he can effect
his retreat without being wounded. But it is not merely in these places,
which seem assigned by nature for their abode, that loathsome reptiles
are found: they creep between the roots of large trees, under the
thickly-interwoven brushwood, on the open grass-plats, and in the maize
and sugar-cane fields of the Indians; nay, they crawl even into their
huts, and most fortunate is it for the inhabit