THE VENOMS AND THEIR REMEDIES. 555 



the fatal confidence placed in snake-charmers, if further 

 proofs be needed. The four men, on payment of money, 

 were to be taught the 'spells,' milntras, etc., and, as they 

 hoped, to be endowed with curative powers. The pro- 

 fessional ' snake men ' bullied them into playing with 

 a cobra and irritating it, with the promise that no harm 

 should follow, even if they were bitten, which one of them 

 very soon was, falling senseless immediately, and dying 

 within an hour. Not warned by the utter failure of 

 * charms' to restore their comrade, the other three permitted 

 themselves to be bitten. The strongest charge of venom 

 having been expended in the first bite, the man next bitten 

 did not fail so rapidly, the third still more slowly, but both 

 died the next day. When the fourth was bitten, the police 

 were Informed of what was going on, and they carried him 

 off to the hospital, and the charmers to prison. Thus is the 

 death-rate swelled. 



Though the venom may be swallowed with impunity by 

 a thoroughly healthy person, there is always danger of its 

 being absorbed through the delicate membranes of the throat 

 and stomach. In cases of sore throat, injured gums or lips, 

 or internal maladies, the risk would be great, of course. 

 Animals killed by the venom are constantly eaten, Fayrcr 

 states ; and that the hungry natives eagerly carried off the 

 fowls upon which he had experimented. Since those 

 celebrated experiments at Florence by the 'Florentine 

 Philosopher,' Redi, and those other ' Knowing Physicians ' 

 above two hundred years ago, the venom has been swallowed 

 by many. The great point of discussion then was to ascertain 

 the source of the ' Mischiefs ;' whether they arpse in the gall 



