Page:Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, Volume 12.djvu/672

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XXXVI. from the of the.

Mar. 18, 1817.

Read an Extract of a Letter addressed to the Secretary from Sir John Jamison, F.L.S., dated at Regentville, New South Wales, September 10, 1816, as follows:

"I cannot avoid relating to you an extraordinary peculiarity which I have lately discovered in the Ornithorynchus paradoxus. — The male of this wonderful animal is provided with spurs on the hind feet or legs, like a cock. The spur is situated over a cyst of venomous fluid, and has a tube or cannula up its centre, through which the animal can, like a serpent, force the poison when it inflicts its wound. I wounded one with small shot; and on my overseer's taking it out of the water, it stuck its spurs into the palm and back of his right hand with such force, and retained them in with such strength, that they could not be withdrawn until it was killed. The hand instantly swelled to a prodigious bulk; and the inflammation having rapidly extended to his shoulder, he was in a few minutes threatened with locked-jaw, and exhibited all the symptoms of a person bitten by a venomous snake. The pain from the first was insupportable, and cold sweats and sickness of stomach took place so alarmingly, that I found it necessary, besides the external application of oil and vinegar, to administer large quantities of the volatile alkali with opium, which I really think preserved his life. He was obliged to keep his bed for several days, and did not recover the perfect use of his hand for nine weeks. This unexpected and