i ;6 BACTERIA IN DAILY LIFE 



produced more fruitful results than has Dr. Cal- 

 mette. It was while acting in the double official 

 capacity of Medecin de 1st Classe du Corps de 

 Sante des Colonies and Director of the Bacterio- 

 logical Institute of Saigon, in Cochin China, in 

 the autumn of 1891, that Calmette first com- 

 menced his experiments on the neutralisation 

 of serpent venom in the animal system. 



He had, indeed, exceptional opportunities in the 

 matter of serpent venom wherewith to carry out 

 his investigations, for during the rainy season 

 a village in the neighbourhood of Bac-Lieu 

 (Cochin China) had been attacked by a band of 

 most venomous serpents. 



These creatures, driven by the floods into the 

 very huts of the natives for shelter, created a 

 terrible panic, and no fewer than forty individuals 

 were bitten by them. The panic was certainly not 

 without justification, for these serpents belonged 

 to the species known as naja tripudians, or cobra 

 de capello, renowned for the deadly nature of their 

 venom, and widely distributed over India, Burmah, 

 Sumatra, Java, Malacca, and Cochin China; but 

 until Calmette set to work to systematically study 

 the nature of this reptile's venom but little precise 

 or reliable information had been obtained as to its 

 character. 



The governor of the district gave orders that as 



