This Serpent is found in the _Lybian Deserts_, and also in the Island of _Lemnos_, in the _Ægean_ Sea. The Puncture made by its Wounds is so small, that it can scarcely be discerned, yet terminates in a dreadful Inflammation and a lingering Death. _ERASMUS_ was puzzled about the Sense of that _Greek_ Proverb ὑδρος εν φιθω, _hydrus in dolio_, a Serpent in the Hogshead: The Meaning of it, said an Interpreter of Dreams, is this: A certain Person had a Vessel of Wine, that was constantly diminishing, tho’ carefully lock’d up; the Reason of which he could not account for, till he empty’d the Vessel, at the bottom of which he found a Serpent rioting in Wine[148]. Footnote 148: _Conradus Gesner._ Perhaps as good an Interpretation may be this, that there was Venom in the Cask (of which the Serpent was an Emblem) to all those who rioted in the Bowls of Excess. Not so, says a Son of _Bacchus_; for _The thirsty Earth soaks up the Rain, And drinks, and gapes for Drink again. The Sea itself, which one would think, Should have but little need of Drink, Drinks Ten thousand Rivers up._—— _The busy Sun, and one would guess By’s drunken fiery Face no less, Drinks up the Sea.—— Fill up the Bowl then, fill it high, Fill all the Glasses there, for why, Should every Creature drink, but I? Why, Man of Morals, tell me why?_[149] Footnote 149: _Cowley_’s Anacreon. Some of the Poets have thought this _Amphisbæna_ to be the _Hydra Lernæa_, the many-headed Serpent, that was very terrible to the adjacent Country, and slain by _Hercules_: When one Head was cut off, many others sprung up; so that there was no way to destroy the Monster, but by cutting off all the Heads with one Stroke. Tho’ there be no _Amphisbænick_ Animals, there is some Resemblance of it in Plants, whose _Cotyledon_ is always double, and in the common Centre of the two, is a Point or Speck, which is the Plantule, or the Tree in Embryo; which Plantule being acted on by the Earth, warmed by the Sun, begins to expand, and shoots its Root both upward and downward. Thus, in a Bean committed to the Ground, we soon see it to cleave into two Parts, and in the Fissure appears a little Speck, which sends out a Root downwards, and a Bud upwards.—A remarkable Phænomenon, says the Note on _Boerhaave_’s Theory. X. Among Serpents, Authors place _Dragons_; Creatures terrible and fierce in Aspect and Nature. They are divided into _Apodes_ and _Pedates_, some with Feet, and some without them; some are privileged with Wings, and others are destitute of Wings and Feet: Some are covered with sharp Scales, which make a bright Appearance in some Position. Some have observed, that about the _Ganges_, are Dragons whose Eyes sparkle like precious Stones.