DOCUMENTS 371 
À ligature was immediately applied, and the wound was made 
to bleed by hard squeezing. Refusing all other treatment, especially 
injection of serum, although we repeatedly urged it, the man made 
off home with all speed, but on arrival failed to find the specific 
on which he was relying. All that was then done was to recite 
afew prayers over him, and a Brahmin priest was called to bless 
him. About 11.30, after acute suffering, Latchoumanin sank into 
a comatose condition. At 12.30 respiration became stertorous, and 
the patient succumbed at 2 p.m., four hours after being bitten. 
Just as the medical officer, deputed by us, reached the dying man, 
two chatties containing live snakes were deposited at his bedside, 
to ward off ill-luck ! 
On the whole, the evidence collected in the last two cases is 
as confused as it 1s incomplete, and we can scarcely say how much 
we regret the obstinacy of these unfortunate victims in refusing to 
submit to our treatment, for the serum would undoubtedly have 
produced its maximum effect in them, since it would have been 
possible to make use of it in good time. These disastrous occur- 
rences, however, will not cure natives of their exclusive reliance 
upon empirical practices; and as regards the inhabitants of the 
Tamil country, that is to say, Southern India, it may be foreseen 
that for a long time to come they will continue to remain refractory 
to the serotherapic treatment, submission to which the English 
have had less difficulty in securing from the natives of Bengal, 
whose intellectual development undoubtedly stands on a higher 
plane. 
