.12 



It has long been known that many savage tribes obtain immunity 

 from such poison by swallowing the poison bags of the animal. 

 Experiments have proved that by a method similar to that used 

 for the bacillus of diphtheria, a certain degree of protection from 

 snake poison can be obtained and that the animal who is made the 

 medium can receive without injury in gradual doses far more 

 than what would be a lethal dose if given at one time. How far 

 the poison of one sort of snake produces immunity from the poison 

 of another is under investigation, but it is known that the cobra 

 poison does so act. 



There has been no opportunity to try the effect of this treat- 

 ment upon human beings, though as 20,000 deaths occur annually 

 in India from snake bites, such an opportunity cannot be long 

 delayed. 



The step from the above subject to the component parts of 

 the blood is not a long one, and the researches made have materially 

 advanced our knowledge of the white corpuscles. They are pro- 

 toplasmic, and havewhatmay be called a vital force self-containeii. 

 They pass more easily through the enveloping tissues than the 

 red corpuscles and thus by a process of filtration become se- 

 parated. In this condition they are shown to have the power of 

 throwing out radiating arms which seize upon and digest morbid 

 tissues and so aid the process of reintegration. This force does 

 not desert them when they are artificially withdrawn from the 

 blood and are placed under a microscope. This power of digestion 

 has been treated of by the Russian Metchinkoff. Ifc is now stated 

 (although this and indeed the whole subject of phagocytes awaits 

 further development) that the microbes of infectious diseases are 

 amenable to the attacks of the white corpuscles, so that nature 

 which produces the disease has at the same time provided a 

 remedy. 



To a speculative, and therefore an unscientific miud, this war 

 of lives going on within the body of another living being opens 

 up a field of thought, upon which in a philosophic society such as 

 this it would be manifestly out of place to dwell for a moment. 



Other great advances have been made in this branch of 

 science, notably the work of Feri'ier and Victor Horsley on the 

 brain. Already they have done much to relieve the ills to which 

 flesh is heir. 



In this review of some recent achievements of practical 

 science I am painfully conscious of many omissions made. 



But there is still a triumph of another kind achieved by 

 science which I have reserved to the last and to which I cannot 

 but refer as worthy to be mentioned here. Only the other day 



