seeming towards the man,--that it was indeed powerlessness, for he constantly observed that, however lively the snake was before, yet upon being seized by any of the blacks, it seemed as if taken with sudden sickness and feebleness, frequently shut its eyes, and never turned its mouth towards the arm of the person who held it. How exactly this account agrees with the words of Silius, "---- _tactuque_ graves _sopire_ chelydros." The Nubian traveller informs us that the Arabs--meaning apparently the Moslem blacks--have not this secret naturally, but that from infancy they acquire an exemption from the mortal consequences attending the bites of all venomous reptiles by chewing a certain root, and washing themselves (it is not _anointing_) with an infusion of certain plants in water. This is by no means improbable; and it were much to be desired that the root and the plants were obtained and identified, that their preventive powers might be tested by competent men of science. In all probability they would be found to belong to the Quassia tribe, the natural order _Simarubaceæ_, plants of the tropical regions of both continents, whose juices are of an intense bitterness. An infusion of the chips of _Quassia amara_ and of _Simaruba amara_ is found to be an effectual poison to flies; and the Brazilian Indians use an infusion of _Simaruba versicolor_ as a specific against the bite of serpents, and use it with great effect in the pediculous diseases which are so common among that people. It was a plant of this order, _Simaba cedron_, on which experiments were made a few years ago, at the Zoological Gardens, just before the lamentable death, by the bite of the Cobra, of poor Gurling, who, indeed, assisted in them. Mr Squire, the eminent chemist, was desirous of testing the powers of this plant, which, dried and reduced to powder, is in high repute among the Indians of South America as a serpentifuge. Dr Quain and Mr Evans concurred in this desire; and, with the permission of the Zoological Society of London, a series of experiments, of much interest, if not very conclusive in their results, were performed at the Gardens, on the 8th July 1852.