This puts me in mind of _Hippocrates_, the Prince of Physicians, who tells us that in the Eastern Parts of _Europe_, there is a _Scythian People_, called _Sauromatæ_, bordering on the _Palus Mæotis_, where the Women ride on Horse-back, draw the Bow, throw the Javelin as they ride, and fight in their Battles, so long as they remain Virgins; and were not allow’d to marry, _till they had killed three Enemies in the Wars_[268]. Of my Author ’tis said, He neither knew how to _deceive_, nor be _deceived_[269]. Footnote 268: _Hippocrates upon Air, Water, and Situation; upon Epidemical Diseases_, _&c._ translated into _English_, by the learned Dr. _Clifton_. Footnote 269: Of _Hippocrates_ ’tis said,——_Qui tam fallere quam falli nescit_. -Macrobii Opera, p. 27. _N. B._ These were the Women called _Amazons_, descended from the _Scythians_, whose Women were as warlike as the Men, and joined with them in their Wars. CIII. The _Corn-Snake_, is most like the _Rattle-Snake_ of all others in Colour, but the Chequers are not so regular; neither has it any Rattles. They are frequently found in _Corn-fields_, from whence, I presume, they have their Appellation. In their Qualities they resemble the _Green-Snakes_, that are innocent by Nature, and in form admirably pretty, if I may be allow’d by the Ladies, to call a Serpent so. CIV. The _Blowing-Serpent_, which is a Species of the Viper, but larger than the _European_, is so called, because it seems to blow, to spread its Head, and swell very much, before it bites; which Bite is very poisonous, and seems to receive some additional Malignity from the Enlargement of its Head beyond the common Proportion. CV. The _Brimstone-Snake_, so denominated from the Similitude of Colour: They might as well call it, the _Glass-Snake_, for if any Credit be given to the Historian, ’tis as brittle as a Glass-Tube, or a Tobacco-Pipe, so that upon the touch of a Twig, it immediately breaks into several Pieces, which some say, and nobody believes, are capable of Re-union. Its component Parts may be weak and frail, but it is questionable, whether so brittle as represented: ’Tis true indeed there are hard Bodies, that would not be affected with a Twig, yet are very brittle. Thus _Iron_, which is one of the hardest Metals and yet _most brittle_, and by fusing, it becomes harder and more brittle. Now this great Brittleness of Iron, arises from the great quantity of Sulphur-Brimstone intermixed with it. The abundance of _Sulphur_ in _Iron_, is apparent from the _Sparks_ it emits from under the Smith’s Hammer; those fiery Sparks being only the Sulphur of the heated Iron, nothing of which is seen in any other Metal[270]. _N. B._ Roll-Brimstone sold in the Shops comes from the native Sulphur, which _Helmont_ always preferred to that purified. Footnote 270: _Boerhaave’s Method of Chemistry._