PREFACE 



Outside the realm of science little is known about snakes, and 

 still less of their venom. The most innocent snakes are con- 

 founded with the most venomous. 



Beyond a few isolated contributions to various journals, 

 there is no current literature on the snakes of South Africa, 

 their venom, and the treatment of snake bite. The Kafir and 

 Hottentot traditions and beliefs have been handed down and are 

 accepted as facts by Colonists, hence erroneous ideas and beliefs 

 prevail in regard to snakes, their venom, and the treatment of 

 snake bite, and in consequence large numbers of useful Hves are 

 cut off annually — lives which, in the majority of cases, might 

 have been saved. I have met many people who have lost their 

 lives or been more or less invalided for hfe through the ignorant 

 treatment appHed for snake bite. A man of my acquaintance, 

 in Rhodesia, was bitten on the hand by a venomous serpent. 

 His friends immediately ligatured his arm in several places, 

 poured a quart bottle of whisky neat down his throat, and then 

 belaboured liim unmercifuhy with sjamboks with the view of 

 keeping him awake, the idea being that, if he were allowed to 

 sink into a state of coma, he would die. The man was six 

 months in hospital. His arm, owing to the long-continued appli- 

 cation of the ligature, became gangrenous and had to be 

 amputated. The Hning membrane of his stomach was severely 

 burned, and much of it irretrievably destroyed by the strong 

 spirit, and to-day this man is minus his right arm, and is, 

 moreover, an incurable dyspeptic. 



Again, the scientist Fontana, nearly a hundred years ago, 

 conclusively proved that the outward and inward use of 

 ammonia, as well as injecting it direct into the veins, was 

 utterly useless as a curative agent for snake bite. Yet, from 

 that time to the present day, the belief in its antidotal power 

 in cases of snake bite has been, and is, well-nigh universal. 



