THE VENOMS AND THEIR REMEDIES. 559 



little animal owes its safety to its own bravery and adroitness, 

 more than to any supposititious herb to which it flies. Not 

 but what instinct may induce it to eat of the plants nature 

 provides to animals as to men, and as a cat eats grass when 

 nature dictates a necessity for physic. The mongoose has 

 been known to die of snake-bite like other bitten animals, 

 though it certainly succumbs more slowly than many. 

 Vitality is stronger in some animals than in others. A rat 

 is hard to kill ; and a cat will resist the poison as long as a 

 dog of three times its size. Then if mongooses feed on 

 venomous snakes, they may enjoy in themselves a sort of 

 protective or prophylactic security. Their long fur is also 

 protective, leaving but few vulnerable points; and their 

 strong vitality enables them to escape and probably over- 

 come the bite if slight, or to hide away and die unseen. 



The question of immunity from bites . suggests yet one 

 other point on which some uncertainty exists, viz. Do snakes 

 die of their own bites ? Dr. E. Nicholson only shall be 

 quoted here, because I shall be able to introduce some cases 

 from personal observation in the ensuing chapter, concluding 

 this with just one foreign example which may be relied upon. 

 * According to my experience,' says Nicholson, ' the poison 

 of venomous snakes affects not only harmless ones, but also 

 venomous snakes of other genera.' My own opinion is that 

 they can kill not only other snakes, but even themselves 

 if the charge of venom be strong enough. What has 

 occasionally been seen in print of 'snakes committing 

 suicide,' is, I think, only from an instinct in the serpent to 

 strike at what injured it ivhcre injured. It feels a sudden 

 pain and turns to avenge the injury, striking itself on the 



