366 VENOMS 
moments by teasing it. Irritated by this sport, the snake reared 
itself up, hissed, and struck at its aggressor several times, as though 
it would bite him; but, at each dart, Coupin stopped it with his 
hand and gaze, and the snake remained fascinated, with open 
mouth, hesitating to drive home its fangs. At one moment the 
snake even crawled up to the native’s outstretched hand, and ap- 
peared to lick it: 1t was evident that the animal’s only intention 
was to defend itself, not to attack. 
Coupin, however, was bent on getting bitten, and, by dint of 
exciting the snake, the latter became so exasperated that, with 
hood dilated, it struck at the snake-charmer’s right hand and drove 
in its fangs. The man quietly raised his arm, to allow it to be 
clearly seen that the cobra had a firm hold; then, forcing the 
animal to let go, he came to us to prove that he was really bitten. 
There were two bleeding spots, 6 millimetres apart, in the centre 
of the fourth intermetacarpal space of the right hand. The time 
was exactly 4.40 p.m. 
The snake, which was immediately killed, was still able to 
yield twelve drops of venom, when lateral pressure was applied 
to its glands. 
Coupin walked towards a shrub of the kind mentioned above, 
which he had planted that very morning in the courtyard of the 
hospital,’ plucked some leaves from it and began to chew them, 
making rather a wry face, for he said that they were very bitter. 
He then seemed to meditate for a few moments before the shrub. 
We asked him whether he was afraid, but he stoutly denied it, 
declaring that this was not his first experience, and that indeed 
he had been bitten by cobras so often that he could not remember 
the first occasion. We endeavoured to discover whether he was 
not rendered immune, as Indian snake-charmers are reputed to 
be, by inoculating themselves subcutaneously with increasing doses 
of venom, according to a principle to a certain extent analagous 
"We subsequently learnt that he had informed his friends of his intention, but 
had not said a word about it to his wife. 
