VENOM OF SNAKES. OI 
is serious, according as the poison is more or less abundant in the 
glands, and probably with the degree of rage experienced by the 
animal, as Professor Owen supposes. 
[Of snakes in general it has been remarked that “all strangers 
in countries where these reptiles abound are apt to exaggerate their 
danger; but in a year or two they think as little of them as we do 
in England. I never knew an instance of a snake attacking a 
person unless it was trodden upon or molested, and even then they 
almost always give warning by hissing, or endeavour to effect their 
escape. During my residence in the Cape colony I have at different 
times trodden on them or kicked them in the grass unintentionally, 
but was never bitten.”*] 
* Moodie’s ‘‘Ten Years in South Africa,” vol. i, p. 318. 
