449 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1911. 
Brazil may be considered as one of the countries most infested by 
venomous serpents. Though they have completely disappeared from 
the most frequented places, they are still extremely numerous in the 
surrounding country, and their bites are a fearful source of danger to 
the workmen of the coffee or sugar plantations who go with naked 
feet. 
Two great genera of serpents live in Brazil, the Crotalus and the 
Bothrops. They are found in the forests, the thickets, and the damp 
places. Naturaily rather timid, they flee as soon as disturbed by a 
noise, but if by chance one of them is touched it turns upon and 
angrily bites whoever molests it. So that if a passerby inadvert- 
ently puts his foot on one he is at once bitten. This happens very 
frequently to beasts or horses when they disturb the peace of a snake. 
Hunters dread them for their dogs when the latter search in the 
brushwood. 
According to statistics, up to 1906 there died annually in the State 
of St. Paul alone more than 240 persons from the bites of snakes of 
the Crotalus and Bothrops genera. Since the distribution of serum 
from the serotherapeutic institution of Butantan, the number of 
fatal cases has diminished at a rapid rate. 
This serotherapeutic institution consists of a large number of 
buildings separated by courts. They include the laboratory, the 
cells for the snakes, the stables for the inoculated horses, the store- 
houses for the manipulation of the serum, and the dwellings of the 
staff. Everything is perfectly organized. 
Many obscure points relative to the physiology of serpents still 
require study. In order to better know the habits and all the details 
of the lives of serpents, Dr. Vital Brazil, the eminent director of this 
institution, conceived a surely novel idea. He has made an inclosure 
with thick walls, not so high but that one can easily look over them. 
Within there is a large space, a kind of rustic inclosure, covered in 
places with luxuriant vegetation, traversed by wide paths, with 
glades here and there. A large interior ditch, close to the wall and 
filled with water, forms a second barrier and prevents the escape of 
the dangerous guests that people these thickets. The most venomous 
serpents are to be placed here where they are to live at liberty. When 
I was at Butantan last year the construction of this place was almost 
complete. At the present time, without doubt, Dr. Vital Brazil and 
his fellow workers have already made many curious observations 
while walking to and fro in this frightful paradise, in this garden of 
snakes. 
Before proceeding it will be well to state some theoretical concep- 
tions which will help to explain the importance of the work accom- 
plished by this institution. 
