Lest I should be suspected to misunderstand his meaning, I
shall give it in his own words. Speaking of the opercula or covering
to the gills of the mud inguana, he proceeds to say that 'The forms
of these pennated coverings approach very near to what I have
some time ago observed in the larva or aquatic state of our English
lacerta, known by the name of eft, or newt; which serve them for
coverings to their gills, and for fins to swim with while in this
state; and which they lose, as well as the fins of their tails, when
they change their state, and become land animals, as I have
observed, by keeping them alive for some time myself:'
Linnaeus, in his Systema Naturae, hints at what Mr. Ellis advances
more than once.
Providence has been so indulgent to us as to allow of but one
venomous reptile of the serpent kind in these kingdoms, and that is
the viper. As you propose the good of mankind to be an object of
your publications, you will not omit to mention common salad-oil
as a sovereign remedy against the bite of the viper.
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