HKB
Even the cobra is scarcely so dreaded as this little snake, whose bite is so deadly, and whose habits are such as to cause travellers considerable risk of being bitten.
The head of the Viper affords a very good example of the venomous apparatus of the poisonous serpents, and is well worthy of description. The poison fangs or teeth lie on the sides of the upper jaw, folded back, and almost undistinguishable until lifted with a needle. They are singularly fine and delicate, hardly larger than a lady's needle, and are covered almost to their tips with a muscular envelope, through which the points just peer.
The poison bags or glands, and the reservoir in which the venom is stored, are found at the back and sides of the head, and give to the venomous serpents that peculiar width of head which is so unfailing a characteristic.
On examining carefully the poison fangs, the structure by which the venom is injected into the wound will be easily understood. Under a magnifying glass they will be seen to be hollow, thus affording a passage for the poison.
When the creature draws back its head and opens its mouth to strike, the deadly fangs spring up with their points ready for action, and fully charged with their poisonous distillment.
THE VIPER, OR EPHEH.
The Sand-Viper, or Toxicoa--Its appearance and habits--Adder's poison--The Cockatrice, or Tsepha--The Yellow Viper--Ancient ideas concerning the Cockatrice--Power of its venom.
We now come to the species of snake which cannot be identified with any certainty, and will first take the word epheh.
Mr. Tristram believes that he has identified the Epheh of the Old Testament with the Sand-Viper, or Toxicoa. This reptile, though very small, and scarcely exceeding a foot in length, is a dangerous one, but its bite is not so deadly as that of the cobra or cerastes. It is variable in colour, and has angular white streaks on its body, with a row of whitish spots along the back. The top of the head is dark, and variegated with arrow-shaped white marks.
The Toxicoa is very plentiful in Northern Africa, Palestine, Syria, and the neighbouring countries, and, as it is exceedingly active, is held in some dread by the natives.
Another name of a poisonous snake occurs several times in the Old Testament. The word is tsepha, or tsiphôni, and it is sometimes translated as Adder, and sometimes as Cockatrice. The word is rendered as Adder in Prov. xxiii. 32, where it is said that wine "biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder." Even in this case, however, the word is rendered as Cockatrice in the marginal translation.
It is found three times in the Book of Isaiah. Ch. xi. 8: "The weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den." Also, ch. xiv. 29: "Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent's (nachash) nest shall come forth a cockatrice (tsepha), and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent." The same word occurs again in ch. lix. 5: "They hatch cockatrice' eggs." In the prophet Jeremiah we again find the word: "For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the Lord."
Around this reptile a wonderful variety of legends have been accumulated. The Cockatrice was said to kill by its very look, "because the beams of the Cockatrice's eyes do corrupt the visible spirit of a man, which visible spirit corrupted all the other spirits coming from the brain and life of the heart, are thereby corrupted, and so the man dyeth."