SNAKES 348 



snakes are mere open grooves, until they are converted 

 into tubes by the tissues of the reptile's gums and 

 those of the soft parts of the victims of effectively 

 deep bites, and, in a case like the present one, any 

 such conversion must have been only very partially 

 carried out ; there must have been an area in its 

 course in which the channel remained open and 

 readily allowed its contents to escape. In the case of 

 viperine fangs very slight penetration may suffice to 

 insure efficient injection, because the poison-channels 

 are permanently tubular, but where the latter are 

 intrinsically mere grooves, they must be liable to 

 allow of leakage unless fully completed by the 

 neighbouring tissues of the snake and its victim. 1 

 My only other essay at curing snake-bite in the 

 human subject was hardly more encouraging. The 

 old man in charge of the snakes in the garden 

 whilst he was holding a banded krait for me in the 

 laboratory, managed to let it bite one of his thumbs. 

 He made light of the accident, but, although quite 

 aware that the venom of this species is both small 

 in quantity and poor in quality, I officiously insisted 

 on injecting a strong solution of chloride of gold 

 into the injured part, with the result that the 

 patient had a very bad hand for many days, and 

 constantly greeted me with reproachful looks as the 

 cause of his discomfort. 



Under most conditions cobras are really com- 



1 Vide Appendix. 



