SEROUS MEMBRANES 



5315 



SERVETUS 



attar of roses, paper and leather. Population, 

 about 127,000. 



SEROUS MEMBRANES, se'rus mem' 

 braynz. See MEMBRANES, subhead Serous 

 Membranes. 



SER'PENT. See SNAKE. 



SERPENT CHARMING, an ancient art in 

 Egypt and the East, the practice of which is 

 usually passed from father to son. It is men- 

 tioned in the Old Testament and by many clas- 

 sical writers. Occasionally the serpent charm- 

 ers cut out the poison fangs of their snakes, 

 to render them harmless, but the customis not 

 so general as is supposed. The secret of snake 

 charming without danger seems to be the pos- 

 session of confidence and knowledge of the rep- 

 tiles' habits. Snakes are fond of music, and 

 the usual way of controlling them is by play- 

 ing a flutelike pipe. The serpent, resting on the 

 coils of its lower body, will sway the upper 

 part from side to side. Asps have no external 

 ears, so music cannot influence them; regular, 

 rhythmical motion will, however, and the ser- 

 pent charmer waves his pipe back and forth 

 as he plays. Even professional charmers will 

 play tricks only with the safer, hooded varie- 

 ties. 



SER'PENTINE, a variety of rock com- 

 posed of silica, magnesia and water. It ranges 

 in color through various shades of green to 

 brown, yellow and red. Most varieties are green, 

 spotted or streaked with streaks of white. Ser- 

 pentine is strong, easily quarried, takes a beau- 

 tiful polish and is a valuable building stone. 

 Varieties containing iron, however, should not 

 be used for exteriors, since they discolor wheu 

 exposed to the weather. In some localities in 

 the United States green serpentine is known as 

 v erde antique marble, though it is not marble. 

 The name serpentine was given this rock be- 

 cause of its green and mottled appearance, 

 which resembles in a slight degree the skins of 

 serpents. Asbestos (which see) is a fibrous va- 

 riety of serpentine. 



SERUM THERAPY, se'rum ther'api, a 

 modern method of treating disease that has 

 made great progress in recent years. Its pur- 

 pose may be either preventive or curative, but 

 the underlying principle is that the injection 

 of a prepared serum will create in the body of 

 the subject the needed resisting power. By 

 serum is meant a fluid compound which will 

 kill the disease germs already present in the 

 blood or render the subject immune to an in- 

 vasion of a particular disease. Perhaps the most 

 successful serum thus far discovered is the an- 



titoxin used in treating diphtheria. Therapy 

 means therapeutics, or that part of medical 

 science which treats of the discovery and ap- 

 plication of remedies for disease. 



Experiments are continually being made to 

 discover serums that will have positive cura- 

 tive effects in cases of tuberculosis, pneumonia, 

 typhoid and other infectious diseases. The 

 usual method of preparing a serum is as fol- 

 lows: Cultures of the particular disease germ 

 are made and injected into the body of a 

 healthy cow or horse. The serum produced in 

 the blood of the animal to fight the poison is 

 then tested by experimentation with some other 

 animal and if found adequate is used on human 

 beings. 



The employment of vaccination to prevent 

 smallpox or typhoid fever is an example of 

 vaccine therapy. 



Related Subjects. The reader is referred to 

 the following articles in these volumes: 

 Antitoxin Medicine and Drugs 



Diphtheria, subhead Vaccination 



Treatment 



SERVAL, sur'val, a large, wild cat of Africa, 

 the tawny, black-spotted fur of which appears 

 in the market under the trade name of tiger 

 cat. The animal is about three feet long, and 

 has a sixteen-inch tail and rather large ears. 



THE SERVAL, 



As the African native chiefs wear mantles made 

 of serval fur, these wild cats are being threat- 

 ened with extermination. They are easily tamed 

 if captured when young, but are difficult to 

 raise. It is said that a serval always shows 

 signs of temper when it sees a black man. In 

 South Central Africa, where these cats are 

 fairly common, they hide in thick bushes along 

 river banks, waiting for their prey, which con- 

 sists of small antelopes, rabbits, fowl and other 

 creatures. 



SERVETUS, surve'tus, MICHAEL (1511- 

 1553), a Spanish physician, scholar and theolo- 

 gian, who gained the enmity of Roman Catho- 

 lics and Protestants during the Reformation 

 and was finally burned at the stake as a heretic. 



