THE START 15 



important snakes, poisonous and non-poisonous, in alcohol. 

 Then he showed us preparations of the different kinds of 

 venom and of the different anti-venom serums, presenting 

 us with some of the latter for our use on the journey. 

 He has been able to produce two distinct kinds of anti- 

 venom serum, one to neutralize the virulent poison of the 

 rattlesnake's bite, the other to neutralize the poison of 

 the different snakes of the lachecis genus. These poisons 

 are somewhat different and moreover there appear to be 

 some differences between the poisons of the different spe- 

 cies of lachecis; in some cases the poison is nearly color- 

 less, and in others, as in that of the jararaca, whose poi- 

 son I saw, it is yellow. 



But the vital difference is that between all these poi- 

 sons of the pit-vipers and the poisons of the colubrine 

 snakes, such as the cobra and the coral-snake. As yet the 

 doctor has not been able to develop an anti-venom serum 

 which will neutralize the poison of these colubrine snakes. 

 Practically this is a matter of little consequence in Brazil, 

 for the Brazilian coral-snakes are dangerous only when 

 mishandled by some one whose bare skin is exposed to the 

 bite. The numerous accidents- and fatalities continually 

 occurring in Brazil are almost always to be laid to the 

 account of the several species of lachecis and the single 

 species of rattlesnake. 



Finally, the doctor took us into his lecture-room to 

 show us how he conducted his experiments. The various 

 snakes were in boxes, on one side of the room, under the 

 care of a skilful and impassive assistant, who handled them 

 with the cool and fearless caution of the doctor himself. 

 The poisonous ones were taken out by means of a long- 



