362 THE SSNAKES (OF SOUTH OAPRICA. 
the solution is found in the case of Cobra venom to be quite 
or almost as deadly as before boiling. Several hours’ boiling, 
however, entirely destroys the poisonous properties of Cobra 
venom. 
It will thus be seen how very sensitive the venoms of Adders 
are to heat when in solution, and how strongly Cobra venom, 
under similar conditions, resists heat. 
Venom, in a dry condition, may be heated to 100° C. or a 
little over without any alteration in its poisonous properties. 
If a blood vessel be punctured and the venom enters the 
circulation direct, the effect is practically instantaneous, and 
death occurs within a few moments. I found when the venoms 
of the Boomslang and the Cape Cobra were injected direct into 
the veins of animals, they were stricken with death as swiftly as 
if shot through the brain. In one instance death occurred while 
the dose was being injected. 
However, in cases of snake bite, the venom is usually deposited 
in the muscular tissues and is absorbed by the small capillary 
blood vessels and lymphatics adjacent to the bitten part, and 
finds its way into the general circulation at a much slower rate. 
The symptoms of snake bite vary according to the quantity 
of venom absorbed, and its nature. 
Dr. C. J. Martin states that “‘ Feeding an animal with snake 
poisons, even when the diet contains daily one hundred times 
the fatal dose, does not produce any symptoms of poisoning, 
provided there be no abrasion of the mucous membranes.” 
For several years I have at intervals experimented in this 
manner, administering fifty times a fatal dose of venom daily for 
several days, without any apparent bad effect. I have fed rats, 
fowls, cats, dogs, jackals, mungooses and monkeys on the venoms 
of South African snakes without any symptoms of poisoning 
ensuing. 
It is a common practice of the Kafirs and Hottentots to 
swallow snake venom under the mistaken belief that it renders 
them immune to snake bite. 
The South African Bushmen poisoned their arrow heads with 
snake venom for the purpose of killing animals for food. They 
were in the habit of eating the animals killed in this way without 
previously draining out any of the blood, and only partially 
cooking the flesh, often eating it practically raw. All they did 
