THE VENOMS AND THEIR REMEDIES. 539 



process has to be repeated. Sullivan has not much faith 

 in the process ; nor has Dr. Stradling. But there is one 

 undeniable fact connected with the poisonous snakes of 

 most countries, viz. that death by them is comparatively 

 rare ; and only in India do we hear of thousands dying 

 annually. Dr. Carpenter, Humboldt, and, I believe, other 

 writers of equal weight, have suggested that the poisonous 

 plants used by native tribes, both internally and externally, 

 may impart to the person an odour which is repugnant to 

 snakes ; and if this be the case, how would it be to institute 

 compulsory inoculation among the low-caste Hindoos, who 

 are the chief sufferers in India? Or, could not a few pariah 

 dogs there be inoculated with the juice of some of the 

 native plants, such as the ' earth gall ' of Malay {OpJiiorrJiiza 

 minigos)^ as the Indians of the Orinoco protect themselves 

 with the Vejuco dc Jmaco ? Should the process succeed with 

 valueless animals, it might afterwards be attempted in 

 human beings. Perhaps already it has been attempted, and 

 it w^ould be gratifying could I flatter myself that it was 

 through my suggestions of several years ago. Or I may be 

 only betraying my own ignorance of surgery and of the 

 pharmacopeia in suggesting it at all. 



There are many popular vegetable 'antidotes' of the log 

 cabin and the rough border-clearings of America, but the 

 * faculty ' form no high estimate of them. Dr. Weir Mitchel 

 tested some twenty or thirty plants which owe their reputation 

 to Indian traditions, but without success. ' In the hands of 

 science they failed.' But then is there not always some delay 

 before the patient can reach the hands of science ? It is the 

 prompt treatment, and having the remedies always ready, 



