Note 151 — Chapter X

The snake, respecting which the author here says so much, is the well-known spectacle-snake, Coluber Naja L. called in the Portuguese, Cobra de Capello. An account was published, some time ago, in the Philosophical Transactions, by an Englishman, that he had cured several persons, bitten by the Naja, with volatile alkali. In five minutes after a person has been bitten, a locked jaw takes place. From 30 to 40 drops of spirit of hartshorn must, therefore, be immediately administered in water; the mouth must be forced open, if necessary, and the dose, in the course of a little time, must be doubled. Death ensues in two or three hours if no remedy be applied, and all the limbs become stiff, as the author says. I, however, doubt whether the Naja be the aspis of the ancients. F.