80 CONCLUSION. 



which, translated into English, means that whoever 

 aims at any great achievement must quietly, but 

 indefatigably, concentrate the highest force on the 

 smallest point. Now this smallest point has to the 

 writer been snake-poison from the very commencement 

 of his Australian career. When yet a new-chum, a 

 vigorous tiger snake gave him the first lesson on the 

 action of the insidious venom which nearly cost him 

 his life, but afforded some valuable glimpses into the 

 mystery of snakebite — in fact, gave him the key to 

 unlock that mystery. On analysing the horrid sensa- 

 tions he had experienced before he lost consciousness, 

 and even after regaining it, he saw " depressed nerve- 

 action, emanating from the central nervous system," 

 written on the fjice of every one of them, so much so 

 that this became the foundation and corner stone of 

 his present structure, which, however, it took him a 

 quarter of a century to erect ; for the material he 

 required, namely, cases of snakebite observed from an 

 early stage, and from which all disturbing elements 

 were excluded, did not occur very frequently in his 

 practice. Though he lived all the time among moun- 

 tains, the beautiful Australian Alps, on the rivers and 

 creeks of which snakes are abundant, and though these 

 creatures and anything connected with them had an 

 almost fascinating interest for him, years sometimes 

 elapsed without adding one single good case to his 

 notes. Sometimes his patients were dead when he 

 reached them, and all his entreaties for an autopsy 

 were in vain with the relatives. More frequently he 



