62 ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 



as a precaution ; but no harm came of the bite : the boot 

 had saved him. 



The study of snake poison has a fascination of its own 

 for some persons. I have seen this poison, which is almost 

 colourless and limpid, like vaccine lymph. It was shown 

 to us in his laboratory by one of the greatest authorities 

 on the subject then living 1 ; one, too, who had an un- 

 rivalled name for courage in the field of experimentation 

 with poisons of all kinds — animal, vegetable, or mineral. 

 He told us that even cobra-venom may be swallowed 

 without any ill effects whatever ; for it is deadly only when 

 mingled with the blood, as it would be should there be the 

 very least abrasion of the mouth, just as in the case of an 

 actual bite by the living creature. And this may be trusted 

 as correct, for he was one of those persons who, fearless 

 for themselves, are careful never to hazard statements relat- 

 ing to such meddlings with poisons before having tried 

 experiments on themselves ; nor was he a vivisectionist, 

 holding experiments performed upon an animal to be incon- 

 clusive as to their effect in the case of a human being. 



He gave us a small snakestone, said to have the property, 

 when laid upon a bite, of absorbing the virus. This stone 

 has a peculiarly, almost greasily, smooth surface, and is 

 curiously snaky in colour, being black, veined with olive 

 and grey : the larger the stone the more valuable it is. 

 Our friend said that he had not fully made trial of its 

 efficacy, but was inclined to place its reputation with that 

 of the divination of the presence of water and metals by 

 means of a rod or hazel wand ; to his mind, the power in 

 both cases lying in the hand using it. 



But every one does not possess a snakestone, so the 

 next best thing is to cut the bitten flesh with a bold hand, 

 and then suck at the wound in order to draw out any 

 remaining poison. I saw this done once when one of the 



1 Dr. Shortt, whose laboratory at that time was in the Shevaroy Hills. 



