(_Cerastes Coluber._)
Mr. Madden, whilst in Thebes, killed one of these animals, for the
purpose of extracting its poison, which he found in a small membrane in
the front of the jaw under the two hollow teeth. Having collected the
venom carefully on a piece of glass, he examined it with a microscope,
and found it to consist of sharp, saline spiculae, of a reticular
appearance, extremely minute. "Half of this I gave to a dog, in a piece
of meat--it produced no sensible effect; I then diluted the remainder,
smeared the point of a lancet with it, and wounded the dog in the
shoulder: this application he only survived three hours."'--_Madden's
Travels._