== Medical uses == 

 In Australia, up until the 60's and perhaps even later, you could buy "styptic pencils" which contained Russell's Viper Venom as the active ingredient. These pencils were phenomenally effective (resulting in clotting in a few seconds)and mostly used for cuts occurring as a result of blade shaving.It seems these pencils are no longer available in Australia (perhaps due to the prevalence of electric shavers) but are still stocked in some other countries. I think that, in the interests of completeness, a reference to this should be included. 
 Oaec99