In delicacy of organism and perfection in mechanism and precision, the inoculatory apparatus of the venomous reptile excels the most exquisite appliances devised by the surgical implement maker's art, and it is doubtful whether it can ever be rivaled by the hand of man. The mouth of the serpent is an object for the closest study, presenting as it does a series of independent actions, whereby the bones composing the upper jaw and palate are loosely articulated, or rather attached, to one another by elastic and expansive ligaments, whereby the aperture is made conformatory, or enlarged at will--any one part being untrammeled and unimpeded in its action by its fellows. The recurved, hook-like teeth are thus isolated in application, and each venom fang independent of its rival when so desired, and it becomes possible to reach points and recesses seemingly inaccessible. The fangs proper, those formidable weapons whose threatening presence quails the boldest opponent, inspires the fear of man, and puts to flight the entire animal kingdom--lions, tigers, and leopards, all but the restless and plucky mongoose--and whose slightest scratch is attended with such dire results, are two in number, one in each upper jaw, and placed anteriorly to all other teeth, which they exceed by five or six times in point of size. Situated just within the lips, recurved, slender, and exceeding in keenness even the finest of cambric needles, they are penetrated in their longitudinal diameter by a delicate, hair-like canal opening into a groove at the apex, terminating on the anterior surface in an elongated fissure. As the canal is straight, and the tooth falciform, a like groove or longitudinal fissure is formed at the base, where it is inclosed by the aperture of the duct that communicates with the poison apparatus. At the base of each fang, and extending from a point just beneath the nostril, backward two-thirds the distance to the commissure of the mouth, is the poison gland, analogous to the salivary glands of man, that secretes a pure, mucous saliva, and also a pale straw-colored, half-oleaginous fluid, the venom proper. Within the gland, venom and saliva are mingled in varying proportions coincidently with circumstances; but the former slowly distills away and finds lodgment in the central portion of the excretory duct, that along its middle is dilated to form a bulb-like receptacle, and where only it may be obtained in perfect purity.