REPTILES IN CAPTIVITY 197 
they suffer no danger even from the bite of an adult cobra 
with all its poison apparatus in full working order. The saliva 
of such immune persons is said to act almost like an antitoxin ; 
and it is related that lives have been saved by rubbing it into 
the wounds caused by bites. But for the truth of this story 
I cannot be responsible. | merely set it down for what it 
may be worth. 
Let us pass now from snakes to another kind of reptile no 
less formidable or repulsive—I mean the crocodile. Since in 
my youth I was bitten by one of these animals I have always 
stood in a wholesome fear of them. On this occasion the 
bite nearly ended in a very serious manner. It did not at 
first appear to be serious. The crocodile, which was about 
two feet long, nipped my right hand and [ foolishly took no 
notice of it ; but about three hours afterwards my hand began 
to swell and the swelling spread up the arm, attended with 
great pain. I sat up all night washing the wound with ice- 
cold water and bathing the arm, and on the next morning 
when I sent for a physician I learned that this treatment alone 
had probably been instrumental in saving my arm. The 
swelling slowly disappeared, but the memory of it has remained. 
Since that time more than two thousand crocodiles have 
passed through my hands at one time or another, but I have 
carefully avoided running the risk of any further accident. 
On one occasion, however, in spite of my precautions, an in- 
cident occurred which nearly cost me my life. I was engaged 
in packing up twenty alligators to be exhibited at Dusseldorf, 
among a large collection of other reptiles, in the Zoological 
Gardens at that place. The alligators were from six to ten 
feet long, and I was removing them one by one from the 
basin for the purpose of packing them. As I was taking out 
the seventh, it suddenly gave me such a terrific blow with its 
tail that I was precipitated into the water into the very midst 
of the savage reptiles. The thing happened so quickly that 
it took the alligators some moments to recover from their sur- 
prise, and I took advantage of this brief interval to clamber 
