and holding fo faft the fprigs he was
perched upon, that the tapling top
bent. After he had viewed the
bird a few minutes, it quitted the
place, and made a circle or two higher
in the air, and then refumed its for- A
mer ftanding, fluttering, and crying:
Thereupon William rode the way the
bird trained, and foon spied a large
black fnake in coil, fteadily eyeing the
bird. He gave the fnake a lash with
his whip, and this taking off the
fnake's eye from his prey, the charm
was broken, and away fled the bird,.,
changing its note to a song of joy. B

A perfon of good credit tells me, that one William Stevenfon, riding in the country heard a grey squirrel cry, and prefently after faw him in the road, looking very tame, he therefore alighted and took him up, and then fpied a fnake at a little distance.

C

Thomas Hatton, a merchant in this town, a man to be credited, was riding in the woods, with others, to furvey a large tract of land; there being ten horfes in company: At fome place they were at a ftop, and heard a vigorous rattle-fnake before them, rattle very loudly, which fo frighted D the horfes, that every one of them fcreamed, or roared out, and the chain carrier bimfelf was feared backwards on his breech..

A company of fmall birds of various forts, when they hear one of their kind in diftrefs, by a fuake, will fly to its relief, and seeing him fascinated, they will join in the cry, and E hurry to and fro, as it were to perplex the fake, and make him take his eyes from his prey. Whether they are ever able to effect this I have not heard.

I am credibly informed, that feveril men together faw a black-fnake in pursuit of arabbet in a thick grown field of rye, where the rabbet could not make fo good way as the fake; and that the fnake overtaking him, threw himself over, and feveral times . round him like a rope, and squeezed him to death before the men could come up to relieve him.

A few years ago, walking half a mile, I met a neighbour galloping townwards. Why fo faft? faid 1. He ftopt and told me he had fpent too much time with a black-fnake that bad vanished from him. I laughed at him, and asked him why he did not kill it? So I would if I could, faid he, but it vanished. He was making out of the road, into yonder pasture.

-The laft fpot I saw him in, was juft against fuch a hickery fapling. -My neighbour and I parted, and if the place he directed me to had not been for the fnake; because this man was in my way, I fhould not have looked noted for telling ftrange things. Coming to the hickery fapling I looked over the pafture fence, and there was the fnake within three fteps of me, with his head raised above half a yard from the ground, and his neck curved like a goofe's. The fun glit. tered on his head and breaft, which offended my eyes, and made me the more refolute to kill what I naturally hate to fee. I got over, and chofe a flick among fome bushes that were grubbed up hard by,about five foot long and very fit, as I thought, to have cut the fnake in two, er fmote him to a confiderable diftance... He kept his pofture, and I went near him, obferv. ing the grafs to be short, and the place clear and plain enough; I viewed the length of my stick, and carefully fet my left foot forward, to be within reach, and had a fair view of him until the moment I drew my arm from its extent, which I did fuddenly, but I neither ftruck him, nor faw him again, tho' I fearched diligently for about half an hour: Whether he darted away, or withdrew by a hole downright, I could not find out.

Black fnakes will grow to a large fize, and are often met with, and fometimes have purfued people, but I have not heard their bite is dangerous. I have killed a few of fix foot long, have feen the skin of one that was more than fevey, and have heard of larger.

I had a young fpaniel, that,upon his first fight of a fnake of this fort, wagged his tail, and feemed pleafed with it, and fmelt at it, and got a bite at the end of his nofe, which drew blood. I was standing by when this happened, and obferved the fnake's eyes to fhine brightly; his tail was covered with dry leaves, among which he made Ga rattling like the noife of a rattle. fnake. I could not make the dog kill it, though it was not a large one, fo I killed it myself, and perfuaded him then to carry it in his mouth; but he would not shake it to pieces, as our dogs here will commonly do. The bite did him no harm as I perceived.— And a man has fhewed me his leg, on which was left the marks of a wide bite, by an old black fnake, which he faid was easily cured. But, as I men

tioned above, they are ftrong. A daring man of my acquaintance caught a pretty large one by the neck, and let it coil round his arm, which made him foon wish to be rid of it, for it drew fo tight as to benumb his arm very much; and he thought if the fnake had been one of the ftrongest of this fort, or his arm weak, it would have broke or difabled his arm.

One George Andrews, who lives at the foot of a great hill fifty miles from town, had a horfe at plow bit by a large fnake of twenty four rattles, on

A

B

a fore leg just above the hoof; in two
hours the inflammation afcended to
his neck and throat, which fwelled as
did his breaft, and he rattled and
wheezed in the throat; he was stiff
and hardly to be beaten along; and
the wound then fhewed fome matter.
This was in the afternoon (and in the C
height of poifon in Auguft) and the
horfe that night was kept in a swamp,
which they thought prolonged his life;
next day feveral quarts of matter iffu-
ed from the wound. They tended
the horse as well as they could, but he
died in four days.

George himself was bitten by the naked toe, going out in the night, immediately he felt the poifon rifing upwards, as if a knife was run up his leg; and the pain was great until his leg was benumbed. He made hafte to tie a ftring tight about, above his knee, which he thought kept down the poison. He had fome body to affift him, who was acquainted with proper herbs, and yet he did not get abroad in lefs than two months.

find, he had been wounded by a rattle-fnake: But it happened he had been fo induftrious in fucking and fpitting, that the poison took no effect of his finger or his mouth. (See Dr Mead's account of poisons, Vol. xv. p. 308.)

The bites of rattle-fnakes are fo well known to prove fatal, where speedy remedies are wanting, that they are much dreaded by many people, and fome have fuffered by them in imagination.

field with his reapers, helped them to

The mafter of a farm, being in the

kill a rattle-fnake, and foon after having occafion to go home, took up his fon's jacket, and put it on; his fon was a young man, and both their jackets were made out of the fame piece of cloth: The old man being warm did not button the jacket until he got to the house, and then found it too little for him; he imagined he was grown too big for his jacket, and that the fnake had bit him, and poifoned him; he, therefore, grew fuddenly very ill, and was put to bed. All the people about him were alarmDed, and he had presently more doctors than were good; they melted near a pint of hog's lard, & made him swallow it; and they did several other extraor dinary things to him and for him, yet he grew worse and worfe, and had like to have died. At length came the fon home, with a jacket too big for him, and grumbling for his own: This proved the belt remedy of all, for no fooner had the man tried on the jacket he had taken out with him, but he began to mend, and foon perfectly recovered.

E

I think this man told me his skin changed to the colour of the fnake, but if he did not, feveral others have affured me the poifon has that effect. F And I once have heard of a bitten man who got cured, but it went hard. 'with him, and the venom had its anniversary, fwelling again and giving him the fame pains (but lefs violent) the next year after he was wounded, I and at the fame time of the year.

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Others have escaped better. I am well informed, as I think, that a country man going to an old log, at which his dog was barking, and finding it hollow, was in hopes of getting a rabbet, and, fo thruft in his arm, and had one of his fingers bit, which bleeding, he fucked and fpit out the H -blood. The pain being pretty fevere

he was refolved to fee what had been fo fpiteful; fo with his ax he opened the log, and was much furprized to

Rattle-fnakes fometimes take their prey by fudden onfet, as appears by the following account, which I had from a woman of good credit; the lodged at a houfe in Maryland, which had a hen-houfe near it; the family were disturbed by a noife amongit the fowls, and got up to fee the occafion; they faw nothing of it, but miffed fifteen turkeys out of a young brood. Next day fome of the neighbours heard of this; and the day fol lowing one came and informed the family, that an exceeding large rattlefnake was feen near a plantation about half a mile off. Upon this information, fome of the family went in fearch of him, found him, and killed him; and the perfon that related the ftory, faw this fnake cut open, and the legs, wings, and fome other parts

of

of many small turkeys tumble out of him.

Her husband, who is one of our magiftrates, fays, that the widow Block, near NewCaffle upon Delaware, hearing her turkeys difturbed, fpied A a rattle-fnake at the foot of a cherrytree, looking at them. She got a fence rail and threw one end of it upon the fnake, which made him bite the tree, and the tree foon died.

One William Veftal, (whose wife loft her life by the bite of a rattle-fnake) finding one clofe to a young chefnuttree, which fprung from a tump, deJayed not to itrike the fnake revengefully, upon which, with a great rage, it bit the tree and killed it immediately.

J. B.

B

Very few of the disorders of the fundament, that are called by this name, and treated with all the feve- D rity that the true Fiftula is fuppofed to require, are fo, and the true Fikula itfelf is generally treated with greater severity than is necessary.

The far greater part of the difeafes called Fistulas, have not, at first, any one character or mark of a true fif- B tula, nor can, without the most fupine neglect of the patient, or the mottignorant mifmanagement of the furgeon, degenerate, or be converted into

one.

In impoftumations near the anus, there are frequently fuch openings, yielding fuch a kind of difcharge as in a Fiftula, and they are alfo attended with indurations; yet fuch indurations are merely a diseased alteration made in the ftructure of the parts, and are fo far from being callofities, which it is neceffary to remove by cutting inftruments, or to dettroy by cauftics, G that they may be easily cured.

The diforders ignorantly comprehended under the common name of Fistula are various.

Sometimes the attack is made with fymptoms of high inflammation, pain, fever and rigor, and the abfcefsproves truly critical, and is the folution of H

the fever.

In this cafe, the buttock near the Anus is confiderably fwelled, and has a large circumfcribed hardness, in the

center of which matter is formed, and the middle of which becomes red. This difeafe is generally called a phleg mon, and with all its painful fymptoms vanishes as foon as the matter is dif charged, which, though plentiful, is good. At other times the external parts, after much pain, fever, and ficknefs, become inflamed, without hardness, and the skin acquires an e ryfepalatous appearance; in this cafe the difeafe is fuperficial, the quantity of matter small, and the cellular membrane floughy to a confiderable ex

tent.

Sometimes what the French call a gangrenous fuppuration is formed, in which the cellular and adipofe mem. branes are affected as in a carbuncle. This cafe is an indication of a bad habit, which it is necessary to correct by medicine.

But in all these affections the whole malady is often confined to the skin, and cellular membrane underneath. Sometimes, however, many complaints arife from the influence of the parts immediately affected on other parts that lie near them, producing retention of urine, ftrangury, difury, bearing down, tenefmus, piles, diarrhea, or obftinate coftiveness, complaints fo preffing as to require a particular attention.

Sometimes large quantities of matter, and deep floughs are formed, fo that great devaftation is committed on the parts about the rectum, with little or no previous pain or inflamma. tion.

Sometimes the difeafe first appears by an induration of the skin near the verge of the anus, without pain or change of colour, which hardness gradually foftens and fuppurates, and the fore being fuperficial and clean, is foon well.

But it fometimes happens, that tho' the pain and inflammation is flight, yet the quantity of matter is large, and its quality bad, extreamly offen five, and proceeding from a deep and crude cavity of a bad afpect.

The place where the abfcefs points, and would break if let alone, is also various; fometimes remote from the anus, fometimes near it, or in the perineum. Sometimes it breaks in one place, fometimes in more; fometimes there is one opening through the skin externally, and fometimes another through the inteftine into its cavity.

Sometimes the rectum is not af fected by the formation of the matter,

Coma.

fometimes it is laid bare, and fome-
times it is perforated.

The original feat of the mifchief is fometimes very high up in the pelvis, and the parts that furnish the matter being out of reach, the cafe is hope lefs from the firft. Yet these dif charges are fometimes falutary, and prove folutions of general diseases, but they often prove fatal by exhausting the laft remains of strength.

A

If the disease has its foundation in the laes venerea, which is not uncommon, it frequently communicates with B the urethra, and neck of the bladder, and sometimes it happens that fistulous openings near the anus, give dif charge to a fanies proceeding from a cancerous ftate of fome of the parts within the pelvis.

These various circumftances require

various treatment.

When no fymptoms require particular attention, all that the furgeon has to do is, to affift the maturation of the tumour, and a foft poultice is the beft application.

When the difeafe is of the phlegmonoid kind, the thinner the fkin is fuffered to become before the abcefs is opened, the better: The patient being generally of a full and fanguine habit, if the pain be great, and the fever high, may bear evacuation both by phlebotomy and cathartics.

ment must be loft; the part affected must be frequently fomented with hot fpirited fomentations, a large and deep incifion fhould be made, and applications made of the warmest and most antiseptic kind. This disease is called a carbuncle.

The fymptomatic ftrangury, and dyfury, are commonly relieved by bleeding, with the uses of gum arabic and nitre.

To remove the total fuppreffion it has been almost the univerfal practice to ufe the catheter; but this is effentially wrong, and frequently produces the most dreadful confequences.

In this cafe, the fuppreffion of urine arifes principally from irritation, and the difeafe is fpafmodic; but, fuppofing it to be inflammatory, whatever Cirritates must be wrong; the introduction of the catheter never fails to irritate, whether it is withdrawn or left in; and the refiftance made by the parts in this ftate is fo great that if any violence is ufed, the inftrument will make a new way for its paffage in the neighbouring parts, and produce irremediable mifchief.

D

When the difeafe is of the eryfipe- E latous kind, the patient is generally bilious, and will not bear evacuation. This thould be particularly noted, for evacuations in this cafe, notwithstanding the indications of quick pulfe, and heat of the fkin, frequently prove fatal.

In inflammations of this kind the difeafe is rather a floughy putrid state of the cellular membrane than an impofthumation, and, therefore, the fooner it is opened the better; for the matter will fometimes never make a

F

The only way fafely and effectually to relieve this symptom, is by evacuation and anodyne relaxation.

Lofs of blood is neceffary, according to the ftrength of the patient; the intestines must be emptied, if time permits, by a gentle cathartic; recourfe must be had to a warm bath or femicupium, or bladders of warm water muft be applied to the pubes and perineum; but above all glyfters of warm water, oil, and opium must be injected." There may have been

cafes, fays Mr Pott, that have baf"fied this method of treatment, but I "never met with one of them."

For the removal of the tenefmus, give a dofe of rhubarb with a warm anodyne, fuch as Confect. Mithrid. if that does not fucceed, the injection of thin starch and opium, or Tint.The

point, though the abscess will greatly G baic. is almoft infallible.

increase.

When, inftead of the preceding appearances, the fkin is of a dufky purplifh red colour, feels doughy and unrefifting to the touch, and has little fenfibility; and when the pulfe at the fame time is unequal and faltring; with irregular fhiverings, a great failure of ftrength and fpirits, and an in. H clination to dofe, the cafe is formidable, and the event generally fatal.

In thefe circumftances the habit is always bad, and generally from gluttony and drunkennels. Not a mo

The bearing down is relieved by the fame method.

Obftinate coftiveness, with the piles are relieved by phlebotomy, laxative glyfters, and a low cool regimen.

When the matter of the tumour is discharged by nature or is to be difcharged by art, the disease may be reduced to two heads :

ift, That in which the intestine is not interested.

2d, That in which it is either laid bare, or perforated.

D

E

It is indeed true, that when by this treatment, a large hollow is convert- F ed into a small finus, the finus will not always perfectly clofe and heal; but it is alfo true that the patient has a better chance this way than the other, without any of the mifery which the other produces.

If the habit is good, the fore will heal; if bad, the whole farrago of externals will be applied to no purpose.

But it fome times happens, that though the inteftine is not pierced, it is fo ripped, or laid bare, that no confolidation of the finus can be ob tained, but by laying the cavity of the abfcefs and that of the intestine into one.

When this appears manifefly to he the cafe, the cavities had better be laid into one when the abfcefs is firit

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H