56 



There are in fact many cases recorded of a man being 

 bitten by an undoubtedly deadly snake and showing no ill- 

 eiFects, or recovering without any special treatment. The 

 fact is that the snake does not alwaya inject its poison when 

 it bites. 



The poison is injected by the snake's poison-fang into 

 the blood, just as a doctor injects a drug or serum with a 

 hypodermic syringe. The blood carries the poison to all parts 

 of the body. So the first and most important thing to do to 

 a person bitten by a snake is to tie a ligature tightly round 

 the limb above the bite. Then cut into the bite and let the 

 wound bleed freely and suck it to try and draw the poison out. 

 Some powdered permanganate of potash may also be rubbed 

 into the wound, supposing that any is available. Hurry 

 the patient off to a hospital and the doctor there will give 

 an injection of anti-veneme which may save the patient 

 if only it can be given soon enough. But it must be given 

 soon after the bite to be of any use. Then the doctor will 

 watch for symptoms and combat them as they arise, giving 

 heart stimulants, such as brandy and strychnine for failing 

 circulation, doing artificial respiration if the breathing fails, 

 and so on. 



I am very sceptical about native remedies. In my experi. 

 ence natives know nothing about snakes, neither the educated 

 Indian nor the jungle-dweller nor shikari. They invariably 

 pronounce them all deadly, and generally have some tall story 

 to tell for which there is not the slightest foundation in fact. 



The snakes used by the ordinary Indian juggler and 

 snake-charmer are all harmless as they have had their poison 

 glands removed, but there are numerous instances on record 

 of snake-charmers and other natives being killed by allowing 

 deadly snakes to bite them under the delusion that they were 

 immune owing to some charm or that they had an infallible 

 cure. Natives as a rule are a credulous lot and their stories 



