112 POISONOUS SNAKES AND SNAKE POISONS. 



different outside reasons, as on the size of the snake, or 

 on the quantity of poison entered into the wound, so that 

 a bite whea the gland is empty or the snake had bitten 

 several times recently, is not so dangerous as when in- 

 flicted by a snake which has the gland brimful of the 

 horrible liquid. Then, too, the effect depends more or less 

 on the weather, bites in very hot weather apparently 

 being more dangerous than others in colder seasons. 

 Then, the constitution of the man or the animal bitten 

 will be an important, or rather the decisive, factor in de- 

 termining the result of the bite ; feeble, timid, weak- 

 minded people seem to succumb more easily than cour- 

 ageous, strong men ; a bite seems to influence lean men 

 more than fat ones ; it is more destructive for white men 

 than for Indians, and generally more for foreigners than 

 for natives. 



Last not least the situation and the depth of the 

 wound is to be considered. If the bite is only a super- 

 ficial scratch on a nearly bloodless tissue, the victim 

 may easily recover, while striking a large blood vessel 

 will cause instantaneous fatal results. 



We must not forget that mere fright sometimes 

 has caused deaths especially to nervous, easily frighten- 

 ed people, while the snake which had bitten was utterly 

 harmless. On other occasions the bite of an innocuous 

 snake has actually had fatal results, as it infected the 

 blood of the bitten person with bacteria that were in the 

 saliva. 



People who are bitten usually feel immediately after, 

 a violent pain, a pain which cannot be compared with any- 

 thing else, and which goes like an electric shock through 

 the whole body. In other cases the contrary takes place, 

 the one bitten believes himself to have been scratched 

 only by a thorn and does not think much of the ache. 

 Soon, however, he will feel tired, strength will leave him 



rapidly, he faints, he begins to vomit, to discharge 



es 



