MISCELLANEOUS NOTES, 433 
really been discovered at last. Such a case occurred here a few weeks ago. 
A boy, cutting grass close to my bungalow, was bitten on the instep by a snake 
which was identified by myself and others as beyond doubt a krait, He con- 
tinued his work for a time, but finding the pain increase, left the field and went 
to the stables where his relations live. On hearing what had occurred, they held 
a candle before his eyes and found that he saw five flames instead of one, 
which natives take to be a sure sign of the giddiness which results from snake- 
poison, Accordingly, they carried him off to a well-known“ Mantri,” or worker 
of incantations, who lives close by, but before they arrived the boy was per- 
fectly unconscious, and his teeth so firmly clenched that no medicine could be 
poured down his throat. This was about an hour after the bite. Those present 
thought the case hopeless, but after a time the ‘‘ Mantri” brought him round, 
and he went away little the worse. ‘This was a curious instance, for there was 
no doubt that the boy was bitten and his foot swollen, and further it was quite 
certain that the snake which bit him was a deadly one, the krait, so that it was 
natural to attribute the giddiness and collapse to the action of some portion 
of venom, however minute. 
Another case, however, which happened here a few days ago, suggest a 
different explanation and mates it very probable that all the symptoms were 
simply the result of fright, In this instance I was told that a boy of about 18, 
while lying down, had been bitten on the head, and going at once to the spot I 
found him vomiting and in a stupetied condition. A “ Mantri”’ had been sum- 
moned, and after giving the patient some pounded root, was working away, 
flitting him with his ‘ dhotar”’ and repeating the incantation. 
I had sent for the dead snake, and seeing that it was fortunately of a harm- 
less kind (Mr, Phipson, te whom it was forwarded, identified it as a young 
“ Dhaman,” Zamenis mucosus), made the people assure the boy that he was in no 
danger, but he was too dazed to understand, and soon, after vomiting again, 
went off into a dead faint which lasted for more than twenty minutes. This 
time he was perfectly unconscious, his hands and feet became cold, and had I 
not known that the snake was a harmless one, I should certainly have thought 
him in great danger. Of course, later on he recovered his senses, and was as 
well as ever. Now, had it not happened fortunately that the snake was proved 
to be of a non-venomous kind, this would have been a very pretty case of 
apparent cure, and for an explanation we should have been kept to the choice, 
according to our credulity, between believing in the powdered root, the incan- 
tation, or that the amount of poison was very small, Such extreme effecis 
from fright, so closely simulating genuine symptoms, are probably rare, but 
the possibility of their occurrence puts a fresh ditticulty in the way of believ- 
ing in the successful antidotes occasionally reported. 
S. M. FRASER, LG.S. 
KoLHarore, 9th September, 1893, 
