Part 29

"On one occasion, in March 1854, a friend of mine was riding, with some other civil officers of the government, along a jungle-path in the vicinity of Bintenne, when they saw one of two Tamils, who were approaching them, suddenly dart into the forest and return, holding in both hands a cobra di capello which he had seized by the head and tail. He called to his companion for assistance to place it in their covered basket, but in doing this, he handled it so inexpertly that it seized him by the finger, and retained its hold for a few seconds, as if unable to retract its fangs. The blood flowed, and intense pain appeared to follow almost immediately; but, with all expedition, the friend of the sufferer undid his waistcloth, and took from it two snake-stones, each of the size of a small almond, intensely black and highly polished, though of an extremely light substance. These he applied one to each wound inflicted by the teeth of the serpent, to which the stones attached themselves closely, the blood that oozed from the bites being rapidly imbibed by the porous texture of the article applied. The stones adhered tenaciously for three or four minutes, the wounded man's companion in the meanwhile rubbing his arm downwards from the shoulder towards the fingers. At length the snake-stones dropped off of their own accord; the suffering appeared to have subsided; he twisted his fingers till the joints cracked, and went on his way without concern. Whilst this had been going on, another Indian of the party who had come up took from his bag a small piece of white wood, which resembled a root, and passed it gently near the head of the cobra, which the latter immediately inclined close to the ground; he then lifted the snake without hesitation, and coiled it into a circle at the bottom of his basket. The root, by which he professed to be enabled to perform this operation with safety, he called the Naya-thalee Kalinga (the root of the snake-plant,) protected by which he professed his ability to approach any reptile with impunity. In another instance, in 1853, Mr Lavalliere, the District Judge of Kandy, informed me that he saw a snake-charmer in the jungle, close by the town, search for a cobra di capello, and, after disturbing it in its retreat, the man tried to secure it, but, in the attempt, he was bitten in the thigh till blood trickled from the wound. He instantly applied the Pamboo-Kaloo (or snake-stone), which adhered closely for about ten minutes, during which time he passed the root which he held in his hand backwards and forwards above the stone, till the latter dropped to the ground. He assured Mr Lavalliere that all danger was then past. That gentleman obtained from him the snake-stone he had relied on, and saw him repeatedly afterwards in perfect health. The substances which were used on both these occasions are now in my possession. The roots employed by the several parties are not identical. One appears to be a bit of the stem of an Aristolochia; the other is so dry as to render it difficult to identify it, but it resembles the quadrangular stem of a jungle vine. Some species of Aristolochia, such as the A. serpentaria of North America, are supposed to act as a specific in the cure of snake-bites; and the A. Indica is the plant to which the ichneumon is popularly believed to resort as an antidote when bitten; but it is probable that the use of any particular plant by the snake-charmers is a pretence, or rather a delusion, the reptile being overpowered by the resolute action of the operator, and not by the influence of any secondary appliance, the confidence inspired by the supposed talisman enabling its possessor to address himself fearlessly to his task, and thus to effect by determination and will, what is popularly believed to be the result of charms and stupefaction."

The writer then alludes to the facts mentioned by Bruce, which I have before adduced; and proceeds:--

"As to the snake-stone itself, I submitted one, the application of which I have been describing, to Mr Faraday, and he has communicated to me, as the result of his analysis, his belief that it is 'a piece of charred bone which has been filled with blood perhaps several times, and then carefully charred again. Evidence of this is afforded, as well by the apertures of cells or tubes on its surface as by the fact that it yields and breaks under pressure, and exhibits an organic structure within. When heated slightly, water rises from it, and also a little ammonia; and, if heated still more highly in the air, the carbon burns away, and a bulky white ash is left, retaining the shape and size of the 'stone.' This ash, as is evident from inspection, cannot have belonged to any vegetable substance, for it is almost entirely composed of phosphate of lime. Mr Faraday adds that 'if the piece of matter has ever been employed as a spongy absorbent, it seems hardly fit for that purpose in its present state; but who can say to what treatment it has been subjected since it was fit for use, or to what treatment the natives may submit it when expecting to have occasion to use it?'"

Sir E. Tennent supposes that the animal charcoal may be sufficiently absorbent to extract the venom from the recent wound together with a portion of the blood, before it has had time to be carried into the system. If this be so the process is analogous to that of sucking a poisoned wound, already referred to.

What the author means by a jungle vine I do not exactly know, but conjecture that it may be one of the Bignoniaceæ, the woody climbing species of which have in general their stem divided into lobes arranged in a quadrangular manner. I am not aware that any species of this order is an antidote to animal poisons, but many have powerful medicinal properties, and abound in bitter juices. The whitewood of Jamaica (Bignonia leucoxylon) enjoys a reputation as a remedy for the poison of the Manchineel (Hippomane mancinella) which is so virulent that persons are reported to have been killed by its volatile emanations, when accidentally sleeping under its shade, and a drop of its juice falling on the skin burns it like fire, and produces an ulcer difficult to heal. The value of the Aristolochia has been already referred to; and on the whole I am disposed to attach more importance to the use of vegetable specifics by the Ceylonese operators than the learned author whom I have just quoted. The subject is a highly curious one, and well worthy of minute investigation by able and unprejudiced men of science, willing to receive unscientific information and suggestions, in various parts of the world, particularly in the intertropical regions of both hemispheres.

Psalm lviii. 4, 5.

Jer. viii. 17.

This is the Tuberose, a liliaceous plant, so commonly cultivated in our conservatories. It is generally stated to be a native of the East Indies, but the one spoken of by Tschudi, with a Peruvian name, must certainly be an indigenous plant of the country.

The genus Mikania of Willdenow is one of the tubuliflorous Asteraceæ. M. guaco Humboldt mentions, under the name of Vijuco del Guaco, as being highly esteemed in South America as a valuable antidote against the bite of serpents. "Guaco" and "huaco" are the same word, the intensity of the aspirate varying among different peoples. The power of this Mikania is denied in the most positive terms by Hancock, who suspects that the real Guaco antidote is some kind of Aristolochia. The word "Vijuco" or "Bejuco," in Tropical America, signifies any climbing plant, and is equivalent to our florist word "creeper."

Eupatorium ayapana, belonging to the same order as Mikania, is a valuable repellent of the poison of venomous snakes. For this purpose it is used in Brazil. A quantity of the bruised leaves, which are to be frequently changed, is laid on the scarified wound, and some spoonfuls of the expressed juice are from time to time administered to the patient, till he is found to be free from the symptoms, especially the dreadful anxiety which follows the wounds of venomous reptiles. E. perfoliatum has a very similar action, and Mikania opifera is employed in the same way.--(Lindley's Veg. Kingd., p. 707.) These facts tend to confirm the accuracy of Tschudi and Humboldt against Hancock.

Campaigns and Cruises in Venezuela, vol. i., p. 43.

Dahomey and the Dahomans.

Several of the Aristolochieæ--plants generally having a very bitter taste, and a strong, pungent, disagreeable smell--are valuable alexipharmics. There is a plant very common in Jamaica, where it is called snake-withe, trailing over the stone fences, which I suspect to be an Aristolochia, and perhaps A. trilobata; it is employed as a sudden and potent sudorific, and as an antidote to serpent-bites in other countries, for in Jamaica there is no venomous reptile. The A. anguicida of Carthagena is described by Jacquin as fatal to serpents. He says that the juice of the root chewed and introduced into the mouth of a serpent so stupefies it that it may be for a long time handled with impunity: if the reptile is compelled to swallow a few drops, it perishes in convulsions. The root is also reputed to be an antidote to serpent-bites. "It is not a little remarkable," observes Dr Lindley, "that the power of stupefying snakes, ascribed in Carthagena to Aristolochia anguicida, should be also attributed to A. pallida, longa, b{oe}tica, sempervirens and rotunda; which are said to be the plants with which the Egyptian jugglers stupefy the snakes they play with."

Ceylon, i., 147.

"On the Habits of the Viper in Silesia:" Zoologist, p. 829.

Trav. to the Sources of the Nile, passim.

Travels in the Levant, passim.

Discov. in Africa, ii., p. 292.

Lucan's Pharsalia.

Ind. Field Sports.

Mod. Egyptians.

Zool., 6400.

Beauties of Christianity.

Note-book of a Naturalist, 202.

Napier's Scenes and Sports, vol. ii., p. 227.

Tennent's Ceylon.

BEAUTY.

Very much of the delight with which we pursue natural history is surely due to the almost constant recognition of the beautiful. I do not know that I could say with the poet,--