THE TERRIBLE. 



cobra-di-capello in his own person. Fortunately 

 it was a most minute dose, or we should not 

 have received the account. A rat which had been 

 struck by the serpent, Mr. Buckland skinned after 

 its death. He scraped the interior of the skin 

 with his finger-nail, forgetting that he had an 

 hour before been cleaning his nails with his pen- 

 knife. In so doing, he had slightly separated the 

 nail from the quick, and into this little crack the 

 poison had penetrated. Though the orifice was so 

 ismallasto have been unnoticed, and though the 

 venom was not received direct from the serpent, 

 but had been diffused through the system of the 

 rat, the life of the operator was all but sacrificed. 



A few years ago the people of London were 

 shocked by the sudden death of Curling, one of 

 the keepers of the Zoological Gardens, from the 

 bite of a cobra. 



In India, where the species is common, its pro- 

 pensity to haunt houses frequently brings it under 

 notice, and many accidents occur. It seems, how- 

 ever, on some occasions, to be placably disposed, 

 if not assaulted ; and some singular escapes are on 

 record of persons who have had presence of mind 

 enough to let it alone. One is told of an officer 

 who, having some repairs done to his bungalow, 

 was lying on a mattress in the verandah, reading, 

 nearly undressed. Perhaps his book was of a 

 soporific tendency, for he dropped asleep, and 

 awaked with a chilly sensation about his breast. 

 Opening his eyes, he beheld, to his horror, a large 

 cobra coiled up on his bosom, within his open 

 shirt. He saw, in a moment, that to disturb the 

 creature would be highly perilous, almost cer- 

 tainly fatal, and that it was at present doing no 

 harm, and apparently intending none. With great 

 coolness therefore he lay perfectly still, gazing on 

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