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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



bell and Auckland Groups, Torres Straits, 

 New Guinea, and New Ireland. A cruise 

 among the Pacific Islands will probably 

 take up a twelvemonth, when the expedi- 

 tion, passing between Borneo and Celebes, 

 and visiting Luzon and its neighborhood, 

 will make for Japan, there to remain for a 

 couple of months. Kamtchatka will next 

 be visited, whence a run will be made north- 

 ward through Behring's Straits ; thence 

 through the Aleutian Islands, southward to 

 Vancouver's Island, and so through the 

 deep eastern region of the Pacific by Easter 

 Island, and possibly to the Horn, through 

 the Galapagos, and home. The voyage will 

 take between three and four years, and from 

 it results of the highest importance for sci- 

 ence may be expected. 



The Venomous Snakes of India. A new 



* book has been recently published by Dr. 

 Fayrer on the venomous snakes of India, 

 and the treatment of their poisonous bites. 

 In Bengal the people suffer terribly from 

 these reptiles. Dr. Fayrer says : " The 

 frightful scourge of these animals is shown 

 by the fact that the recorded deaths in 1869 

 were 11,416. But it is more than probable, 

 considering the imperfection of Indian rec- 

 ords, that 20,000 was nearer the true mor- 

 tality." He has given a description of some 

 new species of Hydrophidce or poisonous 

 sea-snakes which infest the Indian seas. 

 These elegant creatures, with small heads 

 and tiny jaws, will bite a man while bathing, 

 inflicting an almost imperceptible wound, 

 unnoticed at the time, but of which he dies 

 in a day or two. About the most poisonous 

 of the Indian reptiles is the cobra de capello, 

 or hooded snake. The elevated skin of the 

 back of the neck presents, when the animal 

 is viewed in front, much the appearance of 

 a hood. It is also sometimes called the 

 spectacle snake, from a singular mark on 

 the back of its neck, closely resembling a 

 pair of old-fashioned spectacles. The cobra 

 is some three or four feet long, of a pale, 

 rusty-brown color above, and bluish or yel- 

 lowish-white below. Its venom is extremely 

 powerful, the bite sometimes causing death 

 in less than two hours. This venom, though 

 so exceedingly poisonous when introduced 

 into the system, is comparatively harmless 

 when taken into the stomach. It has a 



sharp taste, but no odor. Usually tho 

 cobra is a sluggish creature, and is easily 

 killed. It seldom uses its fangs except for 

 the purpose of obtaining food. One of its 

 most disagreeable habits is an evident lik- 

 ing for the habitations of men, being fre- 

 quently found near houses, and not rarely 

 in the dwellings themselves. 



In regard to cures for the bite of the 

 cobra, Dr. Fayrer's experiments, :_o less 

 than universal experience, bear testimony 

 to the efficacy of the ligature, if applied 

 promptly and tightly, near the wound, 

 between it and the heart, and followed by 

 excision of the wounded part and the appli- 

 cation of the actual cautery. In case a 

 finger or toe is bitten, amputation should 

 immediately be performed at the next joint. 

 Dr. Fayrer's principal snake-man was once 

 bitten by an echis. Immediate excision 

 and cauterization fortunately saved him. 

 When the virus is once in the blood no 

 known agent is capable of neutralizing it. 



Some of Dr. Fayrer's results are ex- 

 tremely interesting and of great practical 

 value. He finds that these snakes have the 

 greatest repugnance to carbolic acid, which 

 acts as a powerful and fatal poison to them. 

 The practical advantage of using carbolic 

 acid freely in and about houses in India 

 must therefore be great. The practice of 

 sucking a bite is not so absolutely safe as 

 has been hitherto supposed. The poison 

 may. be absorbed through the buccal mu- 

 cous membrane, or the lining membrane of 

 the stomach, when it will produce its fatal 

 effects. 



The most venomous of these snakes 

 seem to possess a perfect immunity from the 

 poison of their own species, and consider- 

 able immunity from the poison of other 

 species. Dr. Fayrer says : " In many of the 

 various experiments I have performed, the 

 cobra, daboia, and krait, did not appear to 

 be able to poison themselves or each other. 

 This result was not absolutely invariable, 

 but sufficiently constant to be remarkable." 

 On this point Dr. Fayrer's observations 

 confirm those made by Dr. Russel. Snake- 

 poison acts with most vigor on warm-blooded 

 animals ; birds die very quickly. The power 

 of resistance is generally in proportion to 

 the size of the animal, but not invariably so. 

 For instance, a cat will resist the poison aa 



