that they remain yet many hours in the Head and in all the parts of the trunk after t is flead emptied of all the gutts and cut in many pieces And this is the cause that the motions and windings so long continue in them that the Head is able to bite and its biting as dangerous as when the Viper was entire and that the Heart even after it is pull'd out of the body and sever'd from the other inward parts keeps its beating for many hours Whence it may be concluded that the Viper which is composed of parts so closely united together and in which are found such perfect Spirits can impart to Man what it hath most accomplisht and in so great abundance So that we need not wonder if we find the remedies we draw from its body are of a not-ordinary vertue A Viper voids not much excrement and what she voyds is not offensive whereas that of Snakes stinks much and hath the smell of stale and corrupt Urine Neither have we ever found any ill smell in opening the vessels wherein we used to keep Vipers alive unless some viper or other had been dead and putrifyed For my part I have never received any inconvenience from any ill air which some pretend to issue forth at the opening of those Vessels Vipers make no holes in the Earth to hide themselves in as other Serpents do but ordinarily they hide themselves under stones or old ruines where they may be often found heaped up and wound together in clusters When 't is fair weather they love to lurk under bushes and tufted plants They commonly couple twice a year the first time in the month of March and they goe with their young ones 4. or 5. months which being perfect come forth one after another by the common opening of the Matrix and in great number even to twenty and twenty five They draw out with them in coming forth a small tegument fastned to their navil like an after-birth which the damm by little and little separateth with her tongue as they are born one after another Vipers cast a skin every Spring and sometimes even in Autumne which hath occasioned a belief that they have a vertue able to make young again and to preserve the strength of those who use them either for a preservative or a remedy THE DESCRIPTION OF A VIPER CHAP. II. Of the Parts which present themselves first SECT I. Of its external Figure THe Vipers Males and Females that we have in France being of their full growth are in the middle of their body a good inch thick but that of Females is bigger when they are with young especially when the young ones are ready to come forth They are commonly two good foot long and there are some that are somewhat longer Their head which is flat hath a kind of border round about the edges of its upper part and in that they differ from Snakes which have all that round bared and taken down and the Head sharper and narrower in proportion to their Body The Head of a Viper is in all an inch long and towards the top thereof it is 7 or 8 lines broad and then lessening by little and little it is not above 4 or 5 lines broad about the Eyes and 2 lines onely about the end of the Nose It is about 2 lines thick The Neck taken where it begins is about the bigness of a mans little finger That of Males is ordinarily a little thicker than that of Females Yet there are some of the Females which when full appear to have a Neck even thicker than that of Males The Tail of Males is always longer and thicker than that of Females because it contains the parts of generation double and in their Interstices there are also two small bladders somewhat long serving for a reservatory of their seed which make their Tail bigger This of the Males is about four fingers square long but that of Females not much longer than three The upper part of the Taile of Males is at its beginning about the bigness of their Neck and ends sharp as doth also the Tail of Females Neither of them stings nor have they any venom in them SECT II. Of the Skin of Vipers NO Vipers are seen but they have their skin spotted but the ground of the colour is different enough for sometimes 't is whitish sometimes reddish in some 't is gray in others yellow in others tawny This ground is always speckled with black spots or at least much darker ones than the rest they appear like different cyphers or characters ranged in spaces even enough and answering one another especially on the top and the sides of the Body Some of them are also upon the Head and among the rest two in the form of Horns which take their rise between both Eyes and open themselves and reach towards the two sides of the top of the Head and are sometimes 4. or 5. lines long each of them and halfe a line broad Opposite to the middle of these two horns there appears a speck of the bigness of a small Lentile being shaped like the Iron of a Pike And this is that which is as 't were the first and principal of all these specks seeming to guide them all along the Back-bone The Skin is all cover'd with Scales the greatest strongest and most considerable of which are those under the whole Body and some under part of the Head Their bigness and force is necessary for them to fortify the Viper in the place that is feeblest and least capable of defence besides that they support the Animal and serve it instead of feet for creeping and for carrying its Body to and fro These great Scales are alwayes of the colour of Steel from one end to the other and different from those of Snakes which are commonly mark'd with a yellow colour They open and stick according as the Viper will recoyle or stop The extremity of these great Scales is as 't were sow'd beneath the other little Scales which cover the whole Body Those under the Head reach in their breadth towards the two Jawes they are lesser streighter and softer than those under the Belly and terminate at other smaller Scales which go on to cover the whole undermost part of the Head and beginning their ranks towards the ends before continue them at the sides of those ranks as far as towards the bottom of the Jaws From the beginning of the Neck unto the beginning of the Tayl there are as many great Scales as there are vertebraes or Joynts of the Back-bone and as each Vertebra hath on each side a Ribb each Scale meets by its two ends the points of both and serves them for a defence and stay the same abuts also on each side at the end of one rank of litle scales wherewith the rest of the Body is covered and it seems that 't is placed there to receive them These small scales are admirably well ranged they lying
with so much quickness unto the inward parts the Spirits that issue from the bruised Scorpion have leisure to make way for themselves and to go and find out the venom to joyn with it and to make it come forth whereas the venom of the Viper goes immediately to taint the mass of the blood and the parts which it bedeweth as was apparent in our Gentleman who had no pains nor swelling in his arm but after all the other accidents contrary to the operation of the Scorpions Venom which before it passeth further acteth upon the part prick'd by benumming cold and tension or by inflammation and very great pains as those Authors that have written thereof and the persons that have been prick'd by them doe assure We have found very true what Signor Redi hath said of the effects of the Essence of Tobacco upon Vipers That running their skin through with a thred dipp'd in that essence and leaving the thred in the skin the Viper dies in less than a quarter of an hour and becomes as hard as brass but soon after supple and plyant We have also tryed that a little piece of Tobacco in the roll held in the throat of a Viper and the smoak of Tobacco blown into its throat produce the like effect but a little more slowly and that both do cause convulsions and extraordinary contractions in a viper which are attended with death and that when all the other parts of the body are deprived of motion the heart yet beats about half an hour after and that Tobacco or its essence kills Snakes as well as Vipers I know not whether this will do with other animals since having run a thred dipt in the essence of Tobacco into the skin of the under-belly of a Dog he immediately howled very much and continued so to do for half a quarter of an hour running round then lying down and then rising again and in the mean time purging above and below and voyding excrements more liquid then ordinarily He would eat nothing and onely drunk now and then a little after which he vomited but this was all the trouble he had which insensibly went away and soon after without any other accident We have vexed a viper and made it to bite another viper which on purpose we held within the reach of its teeth But although she open'd her throat and put her self into a posture of biting yet she refrained and sunk not her teeth deep into the body of the other which moved us to thrust them our selves by pressing her jaws but the bitten viper received no inconvenience from it Yet we have observed that a viper which was made to swallow some of the essence of Tobacco and which we yet held by the neck with pincers did bite herself but as the essence alone failed not to kill her so there was no reason to impute her death to this kind of biting which was probably an effect of the convulsive motions caused by the essence of Tobacco We also pierced twice in the day-light with the point of a pen-knife the head of a live viper in the midst of the Brain from the top to the botom one thrust long-wayes the other cross-wayes and in such a manner that the blood run out both above and below but notwithstanding the viper being let loose crept about as before and as if she had not been wounded but she still lost bloud by the wounds and at last dyed at the end of an hour but her heart did still beat and continue to do so two hours after Which Experiment sufficiently argues the extraordinary vivacity of the Spirits of the viper We have also put into a glass-vessel a living viper together with three live Scorpions and there left them together four dayes but found them in the same condition in which they were when we put them in though there be Authors that assure that these Animals kill one another being shut up together in one and the same vessel Mean time a viper will kill Scorpions as well as Lizzards and other animals to devour them and feed upon them but that she doth only when she is at liberty and not when imprison'd for then she ceaseth to take food We have likewise found the contrary to what Authors have affirm'd of the Waspe's attaching a Viper and that the former would fix its sting into the head of the latter and quitted her not till she were dead Divers Authors have assur'd that all the remedies which are reputed Alexiterial or Preservatives against poison did kill Vipers by their vertue contrary and opposite to their venom To be certain hereof we forced a Viper to swallow half a drachm of Theriaque dissolved in Benedictus-water and having laid her aside we perceived not any change in her except that the surface of her skin appear'd for a while a little moist but she grew more vivid upon it and more ready to bite than before We had also a minde to know the effect of Spirit of Wine upon a Viper We therefore made one swallow about a drachme of it which thereupon was presently stun'd and then fell into strange agitations but seeing that that ceased little by little we gave her another dose of the same quantity which not onely caus'd in her the like agitation but afterwards made her almost un-moved and so inebriated her that she seem'd to be half dead She remain'd about three hours in this condition but at length she began to stir again and was like the former more brisk and more disposed to bite than before We put also a living Viper into a bottle almost full of Spirit of wine and we saw that she turned to and fro therein now swimming on the top then in the middle and by and by at the bottom of the bottle and that she resisted a good hour before she was choaked therein We caused likewise a Viper to swallow some sugar part of which was in powder and the other part dissolv'd in water She kept the whole for a while with her but afterwards vomited it up and having laid her aside to see what would become of her we found her dead four and twenty hours after We have often spit into the throats of many Vipers even when we were fasting but they soon after cast up our spitle and had not any hurt thereby though there be Authours affirming that Vipers become tabid or consumptive thereby which yet may very well happen not from thence but rather from the abstinence and sadness after a long imprisonment Many Authors have mentioned that Vipers have a great Antipathy to Ashwood and that if a live Viper were put within a round made one half of the leaves of Ash and the other half of kindled coales the Viper would rather expose herself to be burnt then to come near the Ash-leaves But having made a whole round of such leaves which had about three foot in diameter we put a Viper in the midst which presently hid
NEW EXPERIMENTS UPON THE VIPER BY M. CHARAS NEW EXPERIMENTS UPON VIPERS Containing also an Exact DESCRIPTION Of all the Parts of a VIPER The SEAT of its POYSON AND THE Several EFFECTS thereof Together with the EXQVISITE REMEDIES That by the Skilful may be drawn from Vipers as well for the Cure of their Bitings as for that of other Maladies Originally written in French By M. CHARAS of Paris Now rendred English Multa Patres olim Nos plurima plura Futuri Invenient Cupidis nec porta negata Novorum LONDON Printed by T. N. for J. Martyn Printer to the R. Society at the Bell in S. Pauls Church-yard and a little without Temple-Bar 1670. THE Preface MAny will perhaps wonder that after so many famous Authours Antient and Modern who have written of VIPERS I should yet undertake to labour in an Argument which in all likelihood they should have exhausted But if reflexion be made on the many wonders that are found in the Body of this Animal it will be easily granted that it cannot be inquir'd into with too much exactness and that it is not a work that can be finish't at one or two sittings What Observations have been left us by knowing men although they be not carried to their perfection may be very useful to those that are come after them to make them discover what had escaped their diligence And without this aid I should not have had the confidence of undertaking this Work in which I have propos'd to my self three main things that may much contribute to the illustration of the History concerning Vipers The first is to examine sundry Observations of the Antients which have hitherto pass'd for true though most of them are not so The second to give an accompt of other Observations which have been unknown to our Predecessors The third to find in the Viper which causeth so many mischiefs Specifick Remedies against its Biting which had not been discover'd before and may serve to overcome many troublesom Distempers which the ordinary Remedies were not able to conquer The Enterprise certainly is bold and I confess I should never have compass'd it what hope soever I might have conceived of it had I not been assisted by some knowing Physitians whose light hath been very helpful to me Their Modesty permits not I should here name them it sufficeth the Publick to know that a good part of the rare things in this Treatise is due to them They had the kindness to meet often at my House for the space of three months and there to see made exact Dissections of Vipers which by my care were brought to me from all Parts of this Kingdom and to see also Experiments tryed of their biting upon divers Animals and to examine their Bodies immediately open'd after their death to discover the true cause of it and to prescribe Remedies answerable to their Conjectures and to take notice of the success of the same In dissecting all these Vipers we were willing to see the parts which Authors have taken notice of and which have also been represented in the Books of some of them And comparing them with the Natural ones that were before our Eyes we found great omissions of very considerable parts an introduction of some imaginary ones and representations and scituations of several that were ill designed and ill enough placed It was thought fit I should endeavour to perform something more accomplish't And Monsieur Bosse whose skill and dexterity in the Art of Designing and Graving is known and esteem'd of all the World in things of a far sublimer nature than the Anatomy of Vipers being happily present at one of our meetings and taking great pleasure to oblige his Friends expressed from that very time that he was very willing to second my intentions And having received from me a sufficient number of Subjects hath taken the pains to design them after the life and thereupon to grave all the considerable parts of this Animal In a word I have omitted nothing of what might render my Design answerable to the wishes of all Learned and Curious men Now as those who speaking of a matter that hath been often handled by others cannot but must often repeat again what hath been already said of it I thought I was not to scruple to enlarge my self a little that I might not give an imperfect Anatomy of the Viper of which it was fit enough to describe as well the great number of the true parts that have been known to our Ancestors as the new ones by me found after them I say nothing of my way of Writing From a person of my profession you are not to expect the Elegancy and Purity of our Tongue I thought it enough for me to deliver my self clearly and intelligibly which is in my opinion all that could be expected from me For the rest I think I am the first that hath given to France a Treatise of the Viper in its Native Language Those who understand no other Languages may think themselves obliged by it in regard they would else have been ignorant of abundance of things that deserve to be known Farewell THE TABLE Of the Titles of all the Contents in this Book Anatomy of the Viper Chap. I. GEneral observations upon the Viper Description of the Viper Ch. II. Of the Parts which present themselves first of all Of the exteriour shape of the Viper Sect. I. Of the skin of the Viper Sec. 2. Ch. III. Of the parts of a Vipers Head Of the Vipers Nose Sec. 1. Of the Skull Sect. 2. Of the Brain Sec. 3. Of the Eyes and their principal Parts and of those that serve for Hearing Sect. 4. Of the Bones of the Head that are articulated to the Skull Sec. 5. Of the Teeth Sec. 6. Of the Nerves Veins Arteries and Muscles of the Head in general Sec. 7. Of the Salival Glands of the Viper Sec. 8. Ch. IV. Of the other Bones of the Viper and of the principal parts that depend therefrom Ch. V. Of the other internal parts of the Viper Of the Tongue Sec. 1. Of the Wind-pipe and the Lungs Sec. 2. Of the Heart and Liver Sec. 3. Of the Gall and Pancreas Sec. 4. Of the Weasand and Stomach Sec. 5. Of the Guts kidneys Fat and a Coat wrapping them up under-neath Sec. 6. Ch. VI. Of the Organs of Generation in a Viper Sect. 3. Of the parts of a Male Sec. 1. Of the parts of Generation in a Female Sec. 2. Of the Generation and Birth of Vipers Sec. 3. The Explication of what is represented in the first Cut. The Explication of what is exhibited in the second Cut. The Explication of what appears in the third Cut. Experiments upon Vipers Ch. I. A Biting of a Viper happn'd to a Man Ch. II. Experiments of Vipers upon divers Animals Experiments on Dogs The Biting of a Dog in his Ear. Another Biting upon a Dog The Biting of a little Dog Another Dog bit in the Tongue Ch. III.
the Vipers have been boyled because it retaines the greatest vertue of them Neither do I see why one should stint the quantity or limit the time of the use of it that depending from the degree of the illness and from the constitution of the persons that will make use thereof And although we know Vipers to be a very Alterative Medicine and that their chief use is onely for their Medicinal qualities yet if taken as an Aliment there is no danger at all to eat of their flesh or to drink of their broth somewhat more or somewhat less It is also to be moderately salted and those that have any of the Fixed Salt of Vipers shall do well to employ it You may also adde to it some of its Volatile Salt if you will have the Flesh of Vipers work more powerfully As to the Vertues of Viper-flesh according to the consent of innumerable Authors whose opinion is supported by reason and truth confirmed by many Experiments we can say that they are very great and that there is no Animal in Nature that affords such and so many And we wonder not at all that the Antients have so frequently employ'd Vipers in their Hieroglyphicks and adorned their Medals with them thereby to design very advantagious things for the publick and for private men forasmuch as this Animal is very capable to furnish them For the use of it preserves the natural heat in a very good temper it repaireth the same and restoreth it when 't is altered it yields a very good food helps digestion by its heat which is not excessive it retards old age and prolongeth life by a property which Vipers have to maintain in good plight the whole habit of the Body Whence it is that many have believed that both Staggs and Eagles induced to it by a natural instinct eat all the Vipers they can meet with and that 't is upon that score that their life is extraordinary long There is also adscribed to Vipers and not without reason a Renewing vertue capable to make young again which they tacitly shew by casting their skin twice a year and renewing themselves by the cover of a new skin This joyned to the subtile parts of which the Viper is composed and to its lively and daring aspect testifies it to be pertinent enough that Authors have attributed to it the vertue of clearing and strengthning the Eyes Vipers have also a very particular vertue of Cleansing the whole Body and particularly the Bloud and of expelling through the pores of its skin all the superfluities Whence it may be inferred that they are very proper to cure the Itch Tettar Erysipelas or Saint Anthonies fire Measels Small Pox and the Leprosy it self the use of them being long enough continued though I cannot well believe what Galen saith That the Wine wherein one onely Viper is choaked is able to cure so great an Evil and which doth not so easily yield to remedies Vipers also may by removing all the impurities and obstructions of the Body and skin cause beauty therein and upon this account it is that many Ladies in Italy use them for their ordinary food By the good nourishment they yield by the purity they give to the blood and to all the parts and by the liberty they give to the Spirits to do their functions therein they are a great relief to persons in a Consumption and to those that are emaciated by long diseases and wasted by tedious Feavers There are even Authors who assure that the use of them is capable to cure the Venereal disease for which we doubt not but they may serve much if they do not altogether cure it Their mundifying vertue joyned to the Alexiterial makes them also very proper to expell all sorts of poysons and even the Plague it self and all contagious diseases They are also very contrary to all putrefaction which commonly is the matter and source of most maladies whence it comes that those who use them are not subject to diseases unless they live irregularly which is able to destroy all the good which the use of Vipers might afford We might here specify many other sicknesses that might be cured by the use of Viper-flesh but we think not fit to do so since the general vertues which we have noted may suffice to make men apply the use to many particular Evils that may need it Yet we shall describe in the Chapter ensuing the uses and Vertues of the parts of Vipers taken as a Medicine without any great preparation CHAP. III. Of the Vertues of several parts of the Viper and of their Vse in Physick THE Vertues which the Flesh of Vipers is able to communicate to those who eat them for nourishment are doubtless very considerable but they are not the onely ones that Vipers are endow'd with and not to alledge superfluous things we shall confine our selves to the principal Vertues of which we have experimented the greatest part It is very certain that the Head of a Viper broyled and swallowed healeth the biting of that animal The Heart and the Liver may do the same Reason and Experience have confirm'd it and therefore in an urgent occasion those parts may be very usefully employed The application of the Blood of a Viper to the Biting as also that of its Head bruised are neither to be rejected nor is that of the Entralls but these applications alone are not capable to cure it for the subtlety and quicness of the Spirits carrying them with great speed into the body there must be used internal specifick remedies to repulse them and you may also very pertinently repeat at the mouth the use of the head heart liver and the other parts of a Viper without fearing to take too much of them because those parts can never do hurt and they alwayes produce some good effect They may also serve for all sorts of venoms and poysons and against all sorts of contagious and epidemical diseases Divers Authors assure that the Head of a Viper hung about the neck hath a very particular quality to cure the Squinancy and all the distempers of the Throat and that the Brain of a Viper wrapt up in a little skin and likewise hung about the neck is very good to make the Teeth of children come forth which effect others believe to be due to the great teeth of Vipers If we had experimented it we could then speak with more certainty The remedies are easily practicable and withal harmless wherefore those who need them may make tryal of them Some also have affirmed that the Liver of a Viper swallowed keeps one from being bitten either by this Animal or by any other serpent and that the powder of Vipers hath the same efficacy But we must not rely upon their report we onely believe that the Liver swallowed is capable to heal the biting of a Viper like the heart flesh and other parts of which we have spoken and that it may much facilitate the delivery of
in a bottle exactly closed to use it upon occasion This Salt thus rectified smells not of Fire and hath nothing but its own natural strong and penetrating scent There may perhaps be found Artists who will take it ill that we have been so large and so particular in exactly setting down all the things that are to be observed in preparing and rectifying this Salt But it is not for them that we have done it but for those who not knowing it will be glad to learn it We have given them sincerely the true means used by ourselves which they may also practise in preparing and rectifying the Salts of the parts of all Animals Those that have any tincture of Chymistry will here find enough to teach themselves as we have done and do daily Mean time they must not be offended that there remain with us upon this subject such things which could not be said nor well comprehended but by those that have labour'd a great while in this Art Intelligent persons that shall examine our proceeding or have a mind to experience the same will find our ingenuousness by finding the success of all we have made them expect together with the facility we give of the Operation They will also find that our way of filling the Retort as far as the neck is more proper than that of leaving a third part empty as some would have it in the Distillation of the Bones Horns and other dry parts of Animals although those that understand it practice it not but in matters that will melt and may break the Retort or let something run out by the beak when 't is fill'd too high But in dry substances as are our Vipers and the Horns and Bones of Animals Crabs-eyes Stones and the like it is enough to leave this neck empty to give vent to the parts raised from the matter and that are to go into the Recipient They will also acknowledge that our way to leave the Oyl among the other substances when we will sever them by subliming and rectifying them is not without reason in regard that the Oyl hath commonly with it much Volatile Salt which leaves it and afterward riseth in the Rectification We esteem also that this Preparation will be preferr'd before many others that are operose and have little method in them and among others before the Rectification which some pretend to make by the addition of Spirit of Salt to the Phlegme and to that which is call'd Spirit and to the Volatil Salt which instead of rectifying this Salt and of making it purer and better changes its nature and instead of subliming it to the Head and the top of the Body as they have pretended it did after the Phlegm was risen the Spirit of Salt riseth it self in its first form in its smell colour and taste leaving at the bottom the Salt which is there found like fixed having the tast and the other qualities of the Spirit of Salt but being lessen'd of two thirds of its weight That kind of men have fill'd Books with many Preparations they understand not nor have experimented For forgetting among other things in the process of this such methods as are absolutely necessary and without which they do nothing they promise impossible successes and putting the Cart before the Horses they fix the Salt when they pretend to sublime it and so very unadvisedly prostitute themselves to shame and confusion For instead of rectifying first the Volatile Salt as more intelligent men might have taught them of whom they had borrowed this Preparation and of subliming it and of separating it by this means from other parts they labouring to disguise the Process have retrenched the main and most necessary part of it and employed at the very first that method which they should have observ'd to fix it believing that that would sublime it not considering that having by that means inverted nature the success would prove answerable to it I set a side their unwarrantable practice of adding a pound of luke-warm water among the substances found in the Recipient after the first distillation since it is an Augmentation not onely useless but troublesome of that Phlegme which must needs be separated Now although one part of this Salt remaining in the Body of the Limbec may yet afterwards becom Volatil by mixing it with some Lixiviat Salt and making it to sublime yet that is not done but with a new and very great loss of its weight nor is the taste of it better than of that which shall have been well rectified according to the method we have before described since the Lixiviat Salts by reviving it in part give it as displeasing a smel as the former We may further add here that the use of tall and strait-neck't Bodies is much more proper for this Rectification than the use of Matrasses with long necks myself having experimented that the Phlegme fals back again more easily and that the Volatil Salt riseth purer in the Bodies of our fashion of which the Figure may be seen on the Title page where also is that of the Retort and the Recipient for the first Distillation Now although the same men that have given us cause to reprehend them have affirmed contrary to truth that there is no fix't Salt in the parts of Animals To prove that there is and to benefit by that of the Viper Take what shall remain in the Retort commonly called the Caput Mortuum which you will find of the form and colour of Coales calcine it in a Furnace or to save expences in a Potters Oven till all become white and of the form of Chalk pulverize it well and make it boyl in a competent quantity of water that may receive and dissolve the Salt filter it and make it euaporate and consume You 'l find at the bottom a coagulated Salt though in a small quantity and such an one as that of five pounds of Viper-bones well calcin'd we have obtain'd no more than three ounces of fix't Salt This Salt hath a very sharp and poynant taste it is Lixiviat and approaching enough in divers regards to the fixt Salt of Tartar You 'l find on the Filter the Terrestrial part stripp'd of all its vertue which then may justly be call'd Caput Mortuum And thus you 'l have the Phlegme that which is call'd Spirit the Volatil Salt the Oyl the Fixt Salt and the Earth into which all the parts of the Viper have been reduced in their separation CHAP. VII Of the Fixation of the Volatil Salt of Vipers ALthough the Volatile Salt of Vipers have in it to speak truth nothing offensive but its strong and piercing Smell and that those who shall take into their mouth the weight of a good number of grains cannot receive from it any other trouble but that of this Sent which yet soon passeth away this Salt leaving afterwards a saline and very agreeable taste yet notwithstanding many persons offended with the piercing odour which is
it very necessary to return to the use of our first inward remedy which had struck the great stroke and had had a manifest good operation I mean the Volatil Salt of Vipers This was in the morning of the fourth day after the biting So we gave him half a drachm of that Salt dissolved in four ounces of Carduus water and we order'd that he should be well covered to make him sweat This medicine did work according to our expectation and desire for the Patient not onely did sweat abundantly but found a very considerable amendment in all the ill Symptoms that had remain'd His pain about the navil was almost not sensible the tumor of his Lips and that which was in the region of the Liver Breast and under the Arm-pits vanish't and that of the shoulder Arm and Hand was much abated as well as the redness and pain We thence judg'd that we should certainly cure the rest and to compass it we gave the next morning to our Patient a like dose of that Volatil Salt of Vipers which made him sweat again very largely the pain of the Navil ceased altogether the swelling of the shoulder was wholly gone and that of the whole arm and hand was yet much more abated as well as the redness and pain And not to leave the cure imperfect though the patient found himself exceedingly amended we gave him the next day another such dose again and the day following one more whereby the whole swelling all the redness and all the pain of the arm hand and the finger itself were dissipated Mean while there was applyed to the finger a little plaister to cicatrize the incisions that had been made there and which were healed three or four dayes after Which did not hinder the Patient to goe abroad and to doe his business as well as if he had never been bitten by the Viper Those that shall read this History and examine all the circumstances of it the several and surprising accidents of the biting of the Viper which we saw and the effectual operation of the remedies employed to remove them will therein find ample matter to exercise their reasoning upon and will soon judge that we had cause accurately to inquire as we have done into all the parts of a Viper to know them well and what they can doe to make a great number of Experiments upon all its parts and to apply ourselves to the preparation of the excellent remedies that may be drawn from the body of this Animal The Extraordinary effect of its Volatil Salt in stopping and in overcoming first of all the Venome which so violently exercised its tyranny over the natural heat and all the noble parts and which doubtless would have altogether triumphed over them the activity penetration and force of the same Salt going to find out the poyson and expelling it from the remotest parts of the body where it had fortified itself and whence it endeavoured to regain the place it had lost and where in the mean time it seem'd to despise the ordinary most powerful remedies All this I say is sufficient to make it to be wondred at and men will doubtless averr that the ill which Vipers are able to cause and which every one may easily avoide is nothing in comparison of such a remedy as the same Vipers can furnish and which may serve not onely to heal their bitings but also to overcome many other obstinate diseases against which the ordinary remedies perform nothing not to speak of many other good preparations made of Vipers which we intend to describe hereafter EXPERIMENTS Of the Biting of Vipers upon other Animals CHAPT II. Experiments upon Dogs THE effects that are surprising are wont sensibly to touch the Minds of Men and they are they which excite the Curious to inquire into the Cause of them and although this do alwayes precede those yet it would not be known and we should not so much as be aware that it was if the effects thereof did not first appear Being therefore to treat of the Biting of Vipers we hope it will not be thought amiss if we begin with the recitation of the Experiments by the Examples of its effects And not to be tedious to the Reader having reviewed all that hath been experimented at my house both the last and this year I shall confine my self to what I think deserves most to be communicated what serveth most to our purpose and what may give most satisfaction to the Curious One of the most considerable Experiments was made on a Dog which was bitten by an angred Viper at the upper lipp The dog was not much moved at it at first but little by little grew sad and his jaw began to swell a little while after he vomited up the last food he had taken and dunged Then some bread flesh and water being offred him he would touch none of it he remain'd in a prostrate posture without complaining the place of the pricking waxed livid and this lividness extended it self to the neck and as far as the breast as did also the swelling At length he dyed but not till fourty hours were past after the biting His belly appear'd not swoln and without we observ'd nothing extraordinary but the tumour and lividness in the part prick't and thereabout The Dog being opened after his death we found in the tronc of the vena cava a little bloud curdled and we noted that the rest of the bloud in this place in the heart and every where else was of a dark colour and of a very ill consistence as if it were blood in part dissolv'd and corrupted The Stomach appear'd of a darkish colour but the Mesentery and the Gutts were darker We found no alteration in the Heart Liver Lungs nor the Spleen all these parts being of a very fine colour and in their natural condition The Biting of a Dog at the Ear. THis Dog howled from the time he felt the biting and continued his howling for half an hour then he ceased to howl and to complain The place prick't wax'd livid and swell'd as also did the Neighbouring parts This dog vomited not but voided some excrements which seemed natural He would neither eat nor drink no more then the first and he soon dyed having liv'd no longer then twenty four hours after he had been bitten We saw outwardly nothing un-common but the lividness and swelling at the neighbouring part and thereabout But having opened him we found all the inward parts in the same condition with those of the former dog 'T is true we did not finde in this dog any coagulated blood neither in the heart nor the vena cava nor else where but it was of an obscure colour and of an odd consistence and in a visible disposition to coagulate Another biting of a Dog WE had a Dog bitten by an irritated Viper at the tip of his Nose the dog howled when he felt himself bitten but was soon appeased falling to
and imagined that the taste of the Gall very sharp and very bitter was an argument of its malignity and that the veins and arteries which pass near the Gall and may be followed as far as into the jawes and appear the same through the whole body above and below the Gall were the pipes which Nature had purposely form'd to carry the juyce of the Gall into the Gums and that it was that liquor which caused all the mortal Symptoms and death it self But they have not considered that this Choler of the Viper resideth not in the Gall that the Galls of innumerable other Animals have a taste very approaching to that of a Viper and yet are not venomous that the veins and arteries which pass near the Gall and seem to part thence and extend unto the Gumms and all the parts of the Body are vessels designed onely to convey the blood which have not their origin in the Gall and which cannot carry a juyce which they could not receive that there is not any taste of Gall in all those imagined Vessels no more than there is in the liquor of the Gums nor in all the rest of the Body above the Gall and that in the whole Bladder of Gall there is but one vessel that is any thing considerable though it be very slender which issuing as we have said from the internal side of the upper part of the Gall descends so far is it from ascending and discharges it self into the first intestine according to the description we have made of it and conformably to the Figure that may be seen in the Cut. But not to stay upon principles so slightly establish't and ill maintain'd forasmuch as we have on our side a great number of Experiments upon which we are grounded We say That the Gall of a Viper is not at all Venomous but that on the contrary it contains a Vertue that is Balsamick and cleansing and very proper for many good uses that there is no Vessel which carries its juyce to the Vesicles that are about the great teeth that the yellow liquor therein contain'd is in all things very different from that of the Gall excepting that they are both equally free from Venom that that yellow liquor is gather'd and form'd by the Salival Glands above described that it is carried into those Vesicles or Baggs by the Lymphatick vessels which part from those Glands that this juyce is nothing but a pure and plain Saliva of which we have already observd the use and that this juyce contributes nothing to the venomousness of the Biting since being tasted and swallowed as we have often experimented it does no hurt neither to man nor beast and since also being put upon open wounds and upon incisions made in the flesh the same being rubb'd therewith and mingled with the bloud it annoyes nothing at all notwithstanding the judgment of a person very intelligent and particularly in this subject of Vipers wo assures to have made a great number of Experiments which being contrary to ours the great opinion we have of the abilities and the sincerity of that famous man hath obliged us to employ the more care and exactness and to confirm ourselves by a very great number of Experiments which have alwayes been found alike in the truth we here assert and of which we shall make evident and irrefragable proof We say further that there is no other venom in all the other parts of the Body and more that there is none even in the great teeth if the Viper be not alive and the biting not accompanied with vexed and enraged Spirits The hurt which the teeth doth when the Viper biteth consists chiefly in that it opens a door to the angred Spirits without which irritation the Biting of the teeth is not mortal and ought to be no further consider'd then for the deep and direct wound which a tooth so sharp so long and so slender of any other animal whatsoever might make In which circumstances the great number of Experiments by us made hath rendred us knowing in regard that we have observed a quite manifest difference in the Biting of a Viper angred from that of a Viper which was made to bite by holding its jaws and by pressing its great teeth into the body of some animal because this forc'd action serves rather to make the Viper retain its spirits then to let them out for which the freedom of the animal is necessary the spirits not being able to part but the imagination and the Choler of the Viper must immediately precede and thrust them out For this way of biting by holding the jaws and thrusting the teeth into some animal although it emit more of the yellow liquor upon the part bitten than the biting made by an angred Viper left to it self is not followed by any sinister accident and is healed like a simple wound whereas the other is attended with death in case we want means of preventing it The effect therefore of the venom being altogether of a spirituous nature and not working but according as the spirits are more or less iritated and push't on and according as they finde more or less free passage we have reason to impute it to the exasperated Spirits having found no footstep of it neither real nor apparent in all the visible parts But the better to maintain this our assertion we shall here give you our thoughts concerning the action of the enraged Spirits These Spirits then push't on by the choler which the Viper had conceived finding the apertures made by the Teeth follow their inclination and as it is their property to advance and penetrate they at the first seek out all wayes for it and they advance more or less according to the facility or difficulty they meet with Thence it is that the Biting is much more dangerous when the teeth light upon the greater vessels than when they only light upon Flesh or the little branches of the veins and Arteries So that the vexed Spirits of a Viper meeting with the bloud and Spirits contain'd in the vessels of the bitten animal push and press them to make way for themselves and embarassing the particles that compose the bloud cause there a coagulation or confusion which disturbs the ordinary Circulation and by this means hinders the communication of the Spirits to the principal parts from which depends their subsistence and life And by reason of this privation they must succumbe either for having been attack't in their fort by these vexed Spirits and infected by them or rather because these spirits of the Viper have made themselves masters of the avenues and obstructed the passages by which the blood and the spirits were communicated to them We conclude therefore that the imagination of the Viper being irritated by the idea of revenge which she had fram'd to her self gives a certain motion to the Spirits which cannot be expressed and pushes them violently through the nerves and their fibres
them making some reflexions on the biting of several Doggs done by Vipers but there remain'd still for us to discourse Why and How the parts of Vipers being eaten can stop and overcome the Venom of their biting We say therefore that all the parts of a Viper abound chiefly in Volatile Salt which in distillation is found partly alone partly in the form of a Spirit which properly is nothing but a Salt dissolved in some portion of Phlegme and partly in the form of an Oyle which also is but a Salt mix't among the unctuous part of a Viper We say also that in the digestion made in the Stomach of the parts of a Vipers body that have been swallowed down this same Volatile Salt which they contain is separated and afterwards distributed to all the parts that need them especially if of these parts there have been swallow'd enow to furnish that quantity which is necessary of this Salt and so we need not doubt but that this Salt will produce an effect like that of the Volatile Salt which was given to our Gentleman bitten Unless it should be said that this same Volatile Salt of those parts of a Vipers body which have been swallowed being of the same nature with the irritated Spirits attracts them to it self and by this union changes their maligne quality and so tames them that they have no power over the bitten Animal which in my opinion is hard enough to conceive and perhaps established upon unsolid foundations We hope that among the many Experiments those of the Five Pigeons bitten one after another by one and the same Viper exasperated and of which the last bitten dyed first of all when the Viper was most vexed and most exhausted of its yellow liquor and that of the Pigeon bitten by Viper which we had caused to bite several times into bread before and that even till bloud came forth to the end that the Juyce might be well emptied of it and which notwithstanding was followed by the death of the Pigeon These Experiments I say will prove on one hand that the yellow liquor contributes nothing to the poyson and on the other that these incensed Spirits assisted by the openings which the great Teeth had prepared for them are the sole and true cause thereof The wound made by a Viper not vexed whose jaws were held in and whose teeth were at the same time thrust into the body of a Pigeon which also was accompanied with store of the yellow juyce and yet not attended with any ill accident as also the pricking made by the great teeth pulled out of a live Viper or by such as stuck yet in the head of a dead Viper and did no hurt at all do sufficiently confirm this truth viz. that the cause of the Venom is to be imputed to the Spirits enraged and not to any other thing or parts in the Vipers body I have not undertaken to reason upon all the Experiments we have made as I have done upon the Bitings both because that is beyond the Sphere of a man of my profession and because I designed onely to confine my self particularly to the wounds and to the Remedies able to heal them For the rest if in the Treaty concerning Theriaque which I have lately publisht I have advanced any thing not consonant to what I have declared here touching the action of the Venom I am to be excused therein forasmuch as I had not then had the occasion well to know the nature and the effects of the Bitings of Vipers and referred my self to the most approved Authors about it But yet all we have there said derogates in nothing from the preparation of Vipers for Theriaque which we have there laid down and which was in that Book our main design as well as to reform several other preparations that seemed not reasonable to us That which now remains to be done by us is to speak of the Remedies to be drawn from Vipers which may serve to heal their bitings and to cure many other evils THE REMEDIES EXTRACTED FROM VIPERS CHAPT I. Of the different choyce that may be made of the parts of a Viper THere is nothing in Nature to which can be given more justly the title both of Aliment and Medicine than to a Viper since it affords equally very good Nourishment and very good Remedies It also hath in its Body not one part which is not very usefull and of which Artists may not draw something that is good their chief difference consisting in this that the substance of the one is more or less close then that of others Yet as in all Bodies of Animals there are parts preferable to others so we may make a distinction of those in a Viper especially if we mean to eat them or to reduce them to powder to take it at the mouth alone or mingled with other medicaments In this case it will be well to use only the Heart the Liver and the Trunk I mean the Body emptied of its guts without head and tayle Not that if you would make use of the head and taile any ill would attend it or that you need to fear any ill quality in them no more than in all the other parts of the body but the Heart Liver and Trunk are chosen as those that are most esteem'd and which are taken before the rest out of the body of such Animals which men use to feed upon Those also that would nourish themselves with Viper-flesh boyled and seasoned may do well in eating of it to separate the bones thereof and to leave them uneaten but if they bruise them between their teeth and swallow them down together with the flesh they would afford them a like and even a stronger nourishment than the flesh for we have found by Distillation that the Bones yield the same parts that the Flesh does and even in greater quantity For the same reason the Bones of the trunk are not to be cast away when you will prepare the powder of Vipers and that the rather because they are in that way very easy to swallow One may also very usefully dress the flesh of Vipers with their own fat as one would do with butter or with the fat of other animals The Skin it self if men would might be boyled and eaten with benefit but that it would not be so savory as the principal parts we have been speaking of As for the Chymical preparations all the parts of Vipers may be therein employed and I would not except from them the Stomach it self nor the Intestins if they were well clear'd of Worms and all Excrements I also know no difference as to goodness of one Sex from the other although most Authors have prescribed the use of Females On the contrary if there be any such difference I would preferre the Males to the Females when these are full of Eggs and big forasmuch as then they are too much wasted for the feeding and increasing of their Eggs. As
to the Seasons in which they are to be taken and used I almost equally consider the Spring and Autumne for the times wherein men need them ought to carry it in the behalf of those who have a mind to feed on them But care must be had to chuse such Vipers as are bigg fat vigorous and active and not to keep them very long after they have been taken because they grow leaner and lesser every day both out of Melancholy and want of food which after that time they use not to take I also make no difference between those Vipers of France that are bred in one Province and those of another for those of Poitou and the neighbouring parts are as good as those of Dauphine and about Lyons and in other places The place therefore is not to be considered but for the quantity and for the conveniency of getting them in regard that they are not wont to be found in maritime places which are the onely that Authors have disapproved for Vipers upon the belief that the flesh of Vipers taken in them did cause thirst by reason of the saltish food they met with there CHAP. II. Of the Vse of the parts of Vipers in respect of their nourishing Vertue THere is scarce an Author that hath written of Vipers but affirms that in several parts of the World many persons and even whole Nations have fed and still feed upon the flesh of Vipers in somuch that in great and costly Entertainments they made exquisite and very considerable dishes of it There are also that have alledged for an example some Nations which by the use of Viper-flesh have extraordinarily lengthn'd their life even to 140. years It is needless to insert here the testimonies of Antiquitie on this subject the Curious may finde them in Books We content ourselves to affirm that many persons do still use it at this time in divers Countries whether it be from Custom or to satisfie their appetite or by the Advice of knowing Physitians and that upon occasions they finde wonderful effects thereof I also doubt not but that the use of it would be more frequent among us if the vertues of Vipers were well known and if one could dislodge out of the minde of people the horrour and natural antipathy they have against this animal For the taste of Viper-flesh is very like that of Eeles whence it is that in some Countries Vipers are called Eeles of the Mountain and one finds something in them even more savoury than in Eeles I know persons who well knowing the most inward parts of Vipers have out of merriment and in company made good meals of them and found it very savory meat But those that have too much aversion from this kind of food may find very convenient wayes to benefit themselves by the vertue of them so as not to be diverted from it by any abhorrency of the animal for they may feed Capons and Pullets with the flesh of Vipers cut in small pieces which those Creatures eat very greedily and continuing for some time to feed them therewith it will certainly communicate the vertue of the Vipers to the body of those Animals which may be eaten as we eate other Capons or Pullets the taste of which will be very savoury because that of Viper flesh is so Neither ought we to doubt that the qualities of Vipers pass into the bodies of those animals since there are innumerable others the flesh of which hath not onely the vertue but even the taste of the things they are fed with The flesh of the Birds that live on Juniper-berries and of those that live onely upon Olives hath not onely their qualities but also their taste and bitterness and that so highly that one can scare eat them In the Countries where Silk-worms are bred it is observed that in their season which is chiefly in the months of May and June the Eggs of Hens that eat those Worms have a taste and smell of them as well as their flesh insomuch that nice persons feed their Poultry a part and hinder them from eating any Silk-worms It may be taken notice of to this purpose that 't is a custome to give to Nurses the medicines which young Children cannot be made to take to the end that their vertue may pass from the body of the Nurse to that of the Child and it hath been often observ'd that the Urine of the Babe hath had the sent of the Druggs the Nurse had taken But yet some might phansy that Animals cannot take the good from the good parts of the things eaten by them but they must at the same time receive the impressions of the ill ones that are there and it might even be objected that Lizzards Scorpions Cantharides and the other Creatures on which Vipers do feed should impress in their bodies the ill qualities they have as among the rest the Cantharid its Caustique quality But notwithstanding all this the Experience we have of the harmlessness of Vipers-bodies and also of their good qualities furnishes us with a contrary argument sufficient to destroy that phansy and it teaches us that the stomach of Animals converteth into good all the ill qualities to be met with in the bodies it receiveth to digest and that it uniteth and appropriateth the good ones to the very substance of the Animal that hath eaten them Whence it comes to pass that it is as 't were transformed or at least very much changed by those good qualities and is upon that account capable to communicate them to other animals into whose stomach it enters to be there digested We say besides that there are divers Examples of Bodies that would be altogether poysonous in the stomach of men which yet serve for food to and fatten other animals which afterwards yield good nourishment to men Such are Hellebore and Hemlock which nourish and fatten Quailes and Goates which afterwards are usefully employed for the nourishment of men and this is it what Lucrece hath very well observed in these Verses Praeterea nobis Veratrum est acre venenum At Capris adipes Coturnicibus auget Quippe videre licet pinguescere saepe Cicutâ Barbigeras pecudes homini quae est acre Venenum But those that have no aversion from Vipers-flesh may take of them the Heart the Liver and the Trunck and having washed them well they may then accommodate them to their own taste in the dressing Where they are to take care not to make the flesh too hot by too much spice especially pepper but yet they are allowed to put to it some aromatique herbs as Garden and Wild-Thyme and the like or a little Nutmeg Cinamon Cloves to raise the taste They must also avoid the fault committed by the Antients whipping and vexing the Vipers before they killed them least this irritation should cause some ill impression in their body which by it self hath no venom at all in it Let them also not cast away the broth wherein
Women with child as doth the Liver of Eeles The Skin of a Viper is not altogether destitute of vertue for besides that it is also as they say very good for the delivery of women making a garter of it about the right leg it hath a very singular vertue for all the distempers of humane skin And although all the other parts eaten may work the same thing yet that we might have benefit from all we have experimented that the Viper-skin does perfectly heal the inveterate mangie of Dogs making them eat it boyled or raw It might also be said that the specks in the Viper-skin seem to signify the marks of the itch or mangy or if you will of the leprosy which the scales of the skin represent yet better and so tacitly express its vertue Some have believed that the Gall of a Viper applyed can heal its biting but we give no credit to it no more than to the application of its bruised head But this we judge that it is proper for the wound of the biting onely as it is for all other wounds and for ulcers themselves having a great abstersive mundifying and cicatrizing vertue It is also very good for the weaknesses of Eyes above all for suffusions and films being taken inwardly or applied outwardly so far it is from doing them hurt The Fat of Vipers hath very great vertues for besides that it is very good in the dressing of the Viper-flesh as hath been said it is able also taking a drachm of it to give great relief in Epidemical diseases and to expell the venom thereof It is also very useful to facilitate the travel of women and to dissipate the swellings of the throat anointing it outwardly therewith It also much relieves Gouty persons and serves to resolve nodosities It unswels all hard and inveterate tumors and even those that proceed from Venereal diseases and for this reason 't is that Jean de Vigo hath used it in the Plaister which bears his name It is likewise very good for Burnings pustuls ' and all distempers of the skin and lastly it is very powerful against all the illnesses of the Sinews and of great vertue for the parts attackt by the Palsy We might also adde many other vertues adscribed by Authors to other parts of the Viper but we forbear because we have not experimented them CHAPT IV. Of the Powder and Trochisques of Vipers SInce we do not alwayes meet with persons who having need to make use of Viper-flesh are disposed to eat thereof it is very necessary to have ready such remedies that be as well accommodated to the inclination of the Patient as fitted to remove the malady The knowledge which Physitians have bad of the great Vertues of the Viper joyned to the difficulty met with in the point of pleasing Patients hath obliged them to search for divers Preparations in which the Antients did not well succeed and if we would bind ourselves to their way of preparing the Powder and the Trochisques we should loose the principal vertue of the Viper and retain onely the most useless For in the opinion which they entertained that there remain'd alwayes some venom in the flesh of the Viper if it were not freed therefrom by some preparation or other their practice was to put the flesh of Vipers in some earthen pot and having luted it to set it in a Bakeoven after the Bread was drawn out and to leave it there till this flesh was reduced to powder In which preparation the best of this flesh which is the Volatile Salt was certainly dissipated They also made several medicines with this powder mixt among other medicaments divers wayes of which we need not to enlarge We shall content ourselves here to set down a preparation of the Powder of Vipers which shall be grounded on Reason and shall retain all the vertues of the Viper easy also to prepare and very convenient for the Patient to use Take then towards the end of Aprill or in the beginning of May such a quantity of Vipers as you please Males and Females chusing big ones and such as are fat and vigorous and using none of those Females which are already big with eggs and then prepare those you shall have thus chosen as follows Without whipping and vexing them cut off with a pair of sizers their heads and tailes flea them and empty them of all their entrals of which you are to separate the heart and the Liver and lay aside their fat for its peculiar uses Wash the trunks of the bodies the hearts and livers in clear water and after that in white wine then dry them with a very clean linnen cloth and having put the hearts and livers again into their trunks tye all the trunks with small pack-thred each at one end and hang them up in the air in the shade and leave them there till they be well dryed which will be in three or four dayes After that cut these trunks into small pieces and stamp them in a great Brass-mortar with an iron-pestle and searce all through a very fine hair-sive and so keep it for use This is the right Powder of Vipers which contains all the vertues to which may be added a drop of Cinamon-oyle to give it a good scent There are some who to make this powder would have the trunks of Vipers cut in pieces and put together with their hearts and livers in a Glass-cucurbit and this covered with its head and luted and so placed with a recipient in a very gentle Balneum thereby continuing that warmth for three dayes together to draw the phlegm of Vipers accompanied with a small portion of the Volatile Salt and to keep this liquor apart and then to take out of the Cucurbite what shall remain there and of it to make the powder of Vipers But besides that this method is troublesome enough that the fire of a Balneum is not sufficiently strong to send forth enough of the Volatile Salt at a time when 't is not yet loosen'd from its subject that 't is notwithstanding too much so not to emit insensibly some smal portion which would afterwards be wanting in the Powder and which also may exhale out of the water besides also that the Vipers are in danger to be too much dry'd in the Cucurbite and even to be there rosted in part We esteem there is cause to prefer our Preparation to this in regard it is much easier and without any destruction or alteration of the good parts of Vipers carries away all their superfluous and useless humidity You might notwithstanding follow this way in part if you should desire to have good Viper-water but then you must increase the fire of the Balneum and finish the distillation in much less time and yet take heed not to hasten the fire too much at the latter end least the water smell of the Empyreuma or burning You must also after you have taken out the parts of the Viper that rest
Experiments of the Biting of a Viper made upon Pigeons and Pullets Ch. IV. Of the Poyson of a Vipers biting and of its operation Ch. V. Experiments of the yellow liquor contained in the little Baggs of the greater Teeth made on several Animals Ch. VI. Experiments of the Gall Eggs Guts Heads and the Blood of a Viper made on divers Animals Ch. VII Sundry other Experiments made upon Vipers Ch. VIII General Reflexions on all those Experiments Remedies drawn from Vipers Ch. I. Of the different choice that may be made of the parts of Vipers Ch. II. Of the Use of the parts of a Viper as to its Nourishing vertue Ch. III. Of the Vertues of several parts of a Viper in Physick Ch. IV. Of the Powder and Trochisques of Vipers Ch. V. Of the Viper-Salt of the Antients Ch. VI. Of the Volatil Salt of Vipers of their Fix't Salt and of the other parts that are separated by Distillation Ch. VII Of the Fixation of the Volatil Salt of Vipers Ch. VIII Of the vertues of the Volatil Salt of Vipers and of what other parts are able to doe that are separated by Distillation Ch. IX Of the way of using the Volatil Salt of Vipers Ch. X. Divers Remedies or Compositions of which this Volatil Salt is the Base or ground FINIS ERRATA PAge 13. line 6. read seen on p. 29. l. 8. r. and that p. 95. l. 27. r. and the want of goodness p. 120. l. 5. r. the bitten animal would be p. 126. l. 12. r. twice through for twice in the day-light p. 163. l. 12. r. adapt p. 165. l. 1. r. with Salt and Dill. p. 172. l. 1. r. Simples be in THE ANATOMY OF A VIPER General Observations upon this Animal CHAPTER I. I Know not what ground the Antient Writers upon this Animal had to say that in the Copulation the Male did insert his Head into the throat of the Female and there emitted his seed thence falling into her Matrix where she first did form Eggs and then Young Vipers That the Female finding a titillation from the emission of the seed snapp'd off with her teeth the head of the Male and so kill'd him and that the Young Vipers being ready to be brought forth did pierce the Womb and the sides of their Damm to make a passage for themselves so that by killing her they revenged in some manner the death of their Sire I confess that this Story or Tale rather having neither reason nor experience on its side I cannot take the part of those Authors I esteem that a Viper which is a kind of creeping Serpent is indeed procreated by the conjunction of Male and Female but this is done by means of the Organs designed for Generation of which we shall make a description in their proper place and which this Animal hath common with all others and that more in number than most Animals The Viper differs from other Serpents not only in this that it creeps more slowly and jumps not but chiefly herein that its little ones receive their perfection in the womb and come forth alive after the usual manner whereas the Femals of other Serpents lay Eggs which they incubate and hatch either in the Sun or in their recesses The Viper is by many taken for an Image of malice and cruelty but in reality she is guilty of no such thing if she be not hurt or vex'd for if she be she becoms furious aud bites very piercingly but she never assaults Man or beast except she be angred And if at times it happen that she bites some person or other sleeping in the field certainly that Body must have thrust or otherwise hit her for else she would never have bit him It may very well be said that by that means the Stratagem of Annibal succeeded when he caused a quantity of earthen Pitchers fill'd with Vipers to be thrown into the Shipps of the King of Pergamus his Enemy in regard that on the one hand the Pots being broken did hurt and anger the Vipers and stirr'd them up to bite whatsoever was within the reach of their teeth and on the other the sight of these creeping Creatures scattered about here and there in the Ships frighted the Souldiers and disorder'd them so that they could not fight Mean time a Viper attacks and kills those Animals which she means to devour for her nourishment as Spanish Flyes Scorpions Froggs Mice Moles Lizzards and the like which she swallows whole after she hath kill'd them with her bigger Teeth The smaller prey she sends down whole into her stomach the bigger she partly lodgeth in her stomach partly in her weasand There can hardly be made any perfect digestion in the Stomach of Vipers both because the heat is there not well united by reason of the great aperture there is at the mouth where the Oesophagus or Weasand ends and because they have not moisture enough to help the fermentation and the Concoction of food But yet this hinders not * the conveyance of the Juyce and of the finest part of the swallow'd animals into all the parts of their body for nourishment Which is not performed but in the space of many days during which the excrements and superfluities of the nutriment are carried into the Gutts whence the grosser parts of them are cast out again by the mouth This we have lately observ'd in a great part of the body of a Lizzard which a Viper vomited up twelve days after she was taken where we saw that of the head and of the fore-leggs and of that part of the body contiguous to them and which could conveniently be placed in the stomach of the Viper there rested little more than the Bones but that a great part of the trunk together with the hind-leggs and the whole taile were in a manner in a condition as if the Viper had swallow'd them that day as appears in the 2d Figure But we were surprised among other things to see that the parts which could not enter into the stomach and had remained in the Oesophagus had kept so long well I mean without suffring any alteration in the skin although those underneath had contracted some lividness which perhaps was an effect of the venemousness of the biting Vipers can live for many months without any food and after they are once taken they eat no more living then only upon the Air they take in And although they be greedy enough of Lizzards when at liberty yet I have found that having thrown Lizzards alive into a barrel wherein I kept a good number of living Vipers and leaving them there whole days and nights the Vipers did no hurt at all to the Lizzards The Substance of Vipers is viscous and compact and perisheth not but very slowly and difficultly Their Skin is scaly which defends them from the injuries of the Air and maketh that the Spirits unite themselves so firmly to the body that 't is hard for them to quit it and we see