self, half an hour before the serpent is taken into the hand, by a dose of the fresh juice, and by previously rubbing his hands with the leaf; a practice that has been frequently followed with success. The experiments, hitherto made on this subject, have not clearly pointed out, whether the effluvia from the plant act on the reptile by creating a kind of disgust, or whether an agreeable sensation is communicated, which fulls it into a state of torpor. It has, however, been noticed, that on sprinkling the head of the serpent with the juice of the plant, the animal appears to become drowsy, though it was before in an irritated and restless state; whereas, when handled by a person who has been previously prepared, it is uneasy, and evinces a wish to escape. A considerable quantity of the juice being poured on two serpents, it was observed that the sensation of stupor was not very durable; for after the lapse of a short period, they recovered their accustomed vigour, and appeared as active as before.

The Guaco-Plant is now applied as a cure for the bite of all kinds of serpents, by the Spanish physicians in the tropical provinces of South America. In those of Venezuela and Caraccas, its use has become so general, that it has been planted and reared on all the large estates; and every morning, when the labourers go out to work in the fields, a small calabash full of the juice is carried with them, in case of accident. This example is worth following in the West-India Islands, where the plant may be easily obtained; and with this view the present details have been given.

The Guaco-Plant, although not in use for more than twentyfive years, has been found to counteract the poison of all the snakes and serpents peculiar to the Spanish Main; and experiments to this effect have there been made on the Taya, as before mentioned, the Coral, or * Coral-snake, called so from its red colour, the Cas-Cabal, or Rattle-Snake,-and a green one found near the city of Giran. Indeed, no greater proof of the powerful effects of this plant can be brought forward, than the case of the Rattle-Snake. The bite of the latter is both violent and grievous; nevertheless, this remedy has proved efficacious to persons in the agony of death.

However, it is proper to remark, that to proceed safely in the cure of persons bitten with serpents, the fresh leaf of the plant is necessary; and its juice, either pure or mixed with a small portion of warm water, is to be given to the patient in any period of the disease, and without any previous preparation: the chewed or bruised leaves are to be applied to the wound, and the parts affected; and if the swelling has not gained the extremity of the

*A small one of this kind was killed in Chapel-yard, George Town, which I now possess, preserved in spirits.

limb, the plant ought to be bound round the part to which the poison has not reached, in order that its progress may be stopped. In the mean time, the dose must be repeated several times; and the patient may then throw aside his dread, and resume his customary occupations.

If sent to a distance, perhaps the best method of conveying it would be, to extract the juice, bottle it carefully, and pack it in a state of good preservation.-This article might be abundantly supplied from Santa-Fe, as well as many other parts of the main continent; and, probably, by further experiments, it would be found to possess other qualities, hitherto unknown. A species of creeper, or bind-weed, of a somewhat similar kind, is said by FATHER GUMILDA to exist in Guayaquil, but its exact affinity with the Guaco-Plant has not hitherto been traced. There is also another kind, mentioned by MR. JACQUIN, in his History of American Plants, possessing properties not unlike those of the Guaco-Plant. This he describes under the name of aristolochia anguicida, stipulis cordalis, which answers to the description of that called carate in South America, the flower of which is denominated in Carthagena, flor de alcatraz, or pelicanflower, because it resembles the bill of that bird; and its virtues, though by no means equal to those of the Guaco-Plant, have an affinity to them.

Several other herbs and roots have been used, with a partial degree of success, against the bites of serpents; and many other modes of cure are in practice among the natives of South America, such as bruising the head of the venomous animal, and applying it to the wound: but as none are so simple, safe, and efficacious as the Guaco-Plant, it would be useless to enumerate them in this place.

How pleasing it is, when we hear of the poison of noxious animals, to know that antidotes are provided, and that the antidote abounds, where the poison is most common. What a display of divine mercy, in placing remedies within our reach; so that, by proper research and application, we may obtain them: And if God thus care for the welfare of the body, how much more for that of the soul!

THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD EXEMPLIFIED.

REFLECTIONS ON THE PUNISHMENT OF THE JEWS, AND ON THE PREDICTIONS OF JESUS CHRIST WHICH POINTED THEM OUT. (Translated from BOSSUET'S "Discours sur l'Histoire Universelle.") WHILST I have endeavoured, my Lord, to lay before you, without interruption, the order of God's counsels in the continu*These Discourses were written for the instruction of the DAUPHIN, and were dedicated to him: see the Introduction to the Work.

VOL. XLIV. DECEMBER, 1821,

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ation of his people, I have rapidly passed over many facts which deserve deep reflection. May I now be permitted to return to them, that matters of such importance may not be lost to you.

And in the first place, I beg you to consider, with more particular attention, the fate of the Jews, all the circumstances of which bear testimony to the Gospel. These circumstances are handed down to us by Infidel, Jewish, and Pagan writers, who, without understanding the course of God's counsels, have related those important facts by which it has pleased Him to make it known.

We have JOSEPHUS, a Jewish author, who was a faithful historian, and well-instructed in the affairs of his own nation; the antiquities of which he has illustrated in an admirable work. He has written an account of the last war, in which it was destroyed, after having been an eye-witness of the whole, and having served his country in a high military capacity.

The Jews furnish us also with other very ancient authors, whose testimonies shall be laid before you. They have ancient Commentators on the Scriptures, and among others, the Chal dee Paraphrases, which they print with their Bibles. They have also a book which they call the Talmud, that is, Doctrine, for which they have not less respect than for the Scripture itself. This is a collection of tracts and sentences of their ancient Doctors; though the parts of which it is composed are not all of the same antiquity, the latter authors, cited in it, having lived during the first ages of the Church. In this book, among an infinite number of ridiculous fables, which we see be ginning for the most part after our SAVIOUR's time, we find some valuable remains of the ancient traditions of the Jewish people, and proofs sufficient to convince them.

And first, it is certain, from the confession of the Jews, that the divine vengeance was never more terribly, nor more strikingly displayed, than it was in their last destruction.

It is a certain tradition, attested by this Talmud, and confirmed by all their Rabbins, that forty years before the destruction of Jerusalem, and soon after the death of CHRIST, there were continually seen in the temple the most strange appearances. Every day there appeared new prodigies, insomuch that a famous Rabbi one day exclaimed. "O temple, O temple, what disturbs thee, and why dost thou fear for thyself?"

What can be more remarkable than than frightful noise, which was heard by the Priests in the sanctuary on the day of Pente cost, and that audible voice which proceeded from the bottom of that sacred place; "LET US GO HENCE; LET US GO HENCE." The holy angels, the protectors of the temple, declared aloud, that they had abandoned it, because GOD, who had for so many ages fixed in it his abode, had given it over to destruction.

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JOSEPHUS and TACITUS have both related this prodigy; though it was heard by the Priests only. But there was another which all the people beheld, and such as had never been seen by any other people. "Four years before the war was declared, a peasant," says JOSEPHUS, "began to cry, A voice is gone forth from the East, a voice is gone forth from the West, a voice is gone forth from the four corners of the earth; a voice against Jerusalem and against the temple; a voice against the newly married; a voice against all the people.' From that time, neither day nor night did he cease to cry, Woe, woe unto Jerusalem.' He redoubled his cries on the feast-days. No other words proceeded out of his mouth: those who pitied him, those who cursed him, and those who administered to his necessities, never heard any thing from him but that terrible sentence, 'Woe to Jerusalem.' He was taken by the Magistrates, examined, and condemned to be scourged; to each question and to each stroke he replied, without ever complaining, Woe to Jerusalem.' Being dismissed as a madman, he went over all the country, incessantly repeating his mournful prediction. He continued for seven years to cry in this manner without intermission, and without feeling his voice weakened. During the last siege of Jerusalem, he was shut up in the city, and was continually going about the walls, and crying with all his might, Woe to the temple, woe to the city, woe to all the people.' At last he added, "Woe to myself;' and in that instant he was killed by a stone thrown from a machine."

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Shall we not say, my Lord, that the divine vengeance seemed to be rendered visible in this man, who lived only to pronounce its decrees; that it had filled him with its energy, that his cries might be descriptive of the miseries of the people; and that at last he was to perish by an effect of that vengeance which he had so long announced, in order to render it more affecting, and more striking, when he should become, not only its prophet and its witness, but also its victim.

This prophet of the miseries of Jerusalem was called JESUS. It seemed that the name of JESUS, the name of salvation and of peace, was to direct the attention of the Jews, who had despised it in the person of our SAVIOUR, to an awful omen; and this ungrateful people, having rejected one JESUS, who had preached to them grace, mercy, and life, GoD sent them another JESUS, who had to announce to them nothing but irremediable evils, and the inevitable decree of their approaching ruin.

Let us penetrate still further into the judgments of God, under the direction of his holy word. Jerusalem and its temple were twice destroyed, first by NEBUCHADNEZZAR, and afterwards by TITUS: but at each of these periods, the justice of GOD was manifested by the same means, though more strikingly in the latter. In order the better to understand the progress of the divine * 5 L2*

counsels, let us first lay down this truth, so often established in the holy Scriptures, that one of the most terrible effects of the divine vengeance is, when, in punishment for our past sins, it abandons us to our own opinions; insomuch that we become deaf to every seasonable warning, blind to the ways of salvation. which are made known to us, eager to believe whatever may lead to our ruin, provided that it flatters us, and daring to undertake every thing, without calculating our forces and those of our enemies.

Thus perished at the first time, by the hand of NEBUCHADNEZZAR, king of Babylon, Jerusalem, and all her princes.Weak, and always conquered by this victorious King, they had often proved that all their efforts against him were vain; and were at last obliged to swear allegiance to him. The prophet JEREMIAH declared to them from GOD, that the LORD had delivered them up to this prince, and that there was no deliverance for them but by submitting to his yoke. To ZEDEKIAH, and to all his people, he said, "Bring your necks under the yoke of the King of Babylon, for why should you perish, and this city be laid waste?" But they believed not his word. Whilst NEBUCHADNEZZAR kept them closely shut up by the prodigious works with which he had surrounded the city, they suffered themselves to be deceived by their false prophets, who filled their minds with imaginary victories, and said to them in the name of the LORD, though God had not sent them, "I have broken the yoke of the King of Babylon; and within two full years will I bring again into this place all the vessels of the LORD's house, that NEBU CHADNEZZAR, king of Babylon, took away from this place, and carried to Babylon." (Jer. xxviii. 2.) The people, away by these promises, suffered hunger and thirst, and were reduced to the greatest extremities; and through their inveterate obstinacy, went to such lengths, that there remained no more mercy for them. The city was overthrown, the temple was burnt, and all was lost.

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By these signs the Jews knew that the hand of God was upon them. But that the divine vengeance might be as evident to them in the last destruction of Jerusalem, as it had been in the first, we see in both the same departure from GOD, the same temerity, the same hardness of heart.

Though their rebellion had brought among them the Roman armies, and though they had rashly thrown off a yoke to which the whole world had submitted, TITUS wished not to destroy them: on the contrary, he frequently offered them pardon, not only at the commencement of the war, but even when they could no longer escape out of his hands. He had already raised about Jerusalem a vast and extensive wall, furnished with towers and redoubts, as strong as the city itself, when he sent to them JOSEPHUS their citizen, one of their captains, one of their priests,