POISON APPARATUS. 347 
the hole at the base of the fang is actually corked, with the 
difference that the papilla cork allows the venom to stream 
through it into the grooved or hollow fang and then the other 
or both simultaneously until removed. Unless the snake is able 
to deliver a full bite and close its jaws firmly over the bitten 
part, a full charge of venom is not delivered. It can thus be 
clearly seen that recovery may take place without any antidotal 
treatment after being imperfectly bitten by a snake whose full 
bite is fatal. In this way faith is established in various worthless 
so-called snake bite “ cures.” 
However, it must be borne in mind that highly venomous 
snakes such as Cobras, Mambas, amd Puff Adders, are able to 
inject far more venom at a single full bite than is sufficient to 
kill a man. An instance in point is given by Dr. Hanna. He 
says, ‘‘ The gentleman, who was the writer’s co-worker in India, 
was one day cleansing the mucus from the mouth of a Cobra, 
which was being held by a snake charmer preparatory to ex- 
pressing the poison, when he inadvertently pushed the top of 
his thumb against the fang. He fancied that as the Cobra had 
not bitten him he had not received any poison, although the 
fang had penetrated deeply; he did no more therefore than 
suck the wound. In about two hours he had weakness of the 
limbs, drowsiness, vomiting, and was unable to feel in his thumb. 
and first two fingers. The parts, swelled, and it was only after 
considerable time he recovered by energetic treatment with anti- 
venine serum. He ultimately lost the top of his thumb as a 
result of necrosis and death of the tissues.” 
Here we have an instance of a man who was wounded by only 
one fang which could not have discharged much venom for there 
was no pressure exerted by the snake, yet if the venom had not 
been neutralized in time in the man’s blood by the injection of 
liberal quantities of anti-venine serum, he would undoubtedly 
have died. 
Half a drop of Cobra venom is sufficient to kill a man unless 
his vital resistance happens to be strong. One full drop is a 
fatal dose to any one. In collecting venom for research pur- 
poses I have drawn ten drops at a time from a six-foot Cape 
Cobra. If this Cobra had bitten a man, and had been allowed 
to retain its grip for a couple of seconds, it was capable of in- 
jecting something like fifteen to twenty fatal doses into him. 
