Virzimbers took care not to destroy this insect, because they found it a good protection against their neighbours who used to invade them.

But there is certainly another mode of becoming proof against serpents, besides that of inoculation. Bruce tells us that the mode by which the Arabs render themselves secure against the bite of the serpent is by chewing a certain root, and washing themselves. with an infusion of certain plants in water. "I have seen many, (he says,) thus armed for a season, do pretty much the same feats as those that possessed the exemption naturally: the drugs were given me, and I several times armed myself, as I thought resolved to try the experiment; but my heart always failed me when I came to the trial, because among these wretched people it was a pretence they might very probably have sheltered themselves under, that I was a Christian, and therefore it had no

effect upon me." He adds that he had still remaining by him a small quantity of the root, but never had an opportu nity of trying the experiment. It is very much to be regretted that he did not give it to some person who would have tried it upon an animal, as might so easily have been done.

M. Jaquin, in a letter to Linnæus, says that the Indians in the West Indies charm serpents with the Aristolochia Anguicida. Forskohl also informed him that the Egyptians used a species of Aristolochia, (Birthwort,) but did not determine which species it is*.

It has now been known for more than two thousand years, that some of the barbarous tribes both of Asia and Africa possess this secret, and yet no civilized nation has ever even attempted to procure the knowledge of a fact which very probably might lead to the most impor

*Hasselquist, p. 65.-Note.

tant consequences. A secret so widely diffused could not long remain conceal. ed if it were properly sought for. If a trifling sum of money were placed at the disposal of our Consuls in Egypt or Barbary, it might soon be purchased, but it would be worth a philosophical mission. No person can say to what beneficial consequences the acquirement of this new power in medicine might lead;.. that it might furnish us with a preventative for canine madness seems not impossible.

239. Lord Chief Justice Holt. When Holt was Lord Chief Justice, he committed some enthusiasts to prison. The next day, one Lacy, who was of the same persuasion, went to his house, and asked to speak with him. The porter answered, his Lordship was not well, and could not be seen. Lacy insisted that he must speak with him, for he was sent to him by the Lord. When this

message was delivered, he obtained admittance. "I come, (said he,) from the Lord, commanding thee to grant a noli prosequi to his faithful servants, whom thou hast unjustly committed to prison." "Thou canst not certainly have come from the Lord, (replied Holt,) for he would have sent thee to the Attorney General, knowing very well that it is not in my power to grant thy demand. Therefore thou art a false prophet, and shalt go and keep thy friends company in prison." Holt would not have disconcerted this prophet by his logic, if it had not been backed by law. Fanaticism and bigotry are proof against logic. When the pictures of the Virgin at Rome in 1796 moved their eyes, and all Rome crowded to behold them, one of the pictures squinted,.. and the squint was admitted to be part of the miracle.

240. Colour of the Autumnal Leaves. In Captain Lewis's Account of the

American Journey of Discovery by way of the Missouri to the Pacific, is a remark of great practical and philosophi cal importance, if it be well founded.

"Mr. Dunbar, (he says,) observes, that the change of colour in the leaves of vegetables, which is probably occasioned by the oxygen of the atmosphere acting on the vegetable matter, deprived of the protecting power of vital princi ple, may serve as an excellent guide to the naturalist who directs his attention to the discovery of new objects for the use of the dyer. For he has always remarked, that the leaves of those trees whose bark or wood is known to produce a dye, are changed in autumn to the same colour which is extracted in the dyer's vat from the woods; more especially by the use of mordants, as allum, &c. which yields oxygen: thus the foliage of the hickory and oak, which produces the quercitron bark, is changed before its fall into a beautiful