57 
my physical condition was keenly sensitive to 
poisonous influences when I received the bite, 
would it be a cause for surprise if the wound 
from a bite under such circumstances should 
prove a serious matter? I think not, and I 
am strongly convinced that many so-called 
deadly snake-bites are nothing more than 
wounds inflicted by a harmless snake at a time 
when the teeth of the snake were in this poi- 
soned state, and the physical condition of the 
person bitten was most susceptible to the slight- 
est presence of poison associated with the bite. 
Some persons are sadly afflicted by the mere 
presence of poison-ivy, while others may heed- 
lessly and without serious results move about 
in its poisonous midst. Now, this is simply a 
matter of susceptibility to poisonous influences. 
So it is with the bite of a harmless or innocu- 
ous snake. Though generally insignificant, 
yet under certain conditions in the snake and 
also in the victim of the snake’s bite, a wound 
inflicted under these circumstances has proved 
a very serious affair.” 
“There is certainly considerable food for 
thought in your propositions, my dear Count. 
I have given but a superficial attention to the 
life habits of snakes and I must therefore ac- 
knowledge a woful ignorance of the interesting 
characteristics of these too generally despised 
creatures. But I can easily comprehend from 
your lucid statements, how a truly and svien- 
tifically innocuous snake can become, under 
