CONCLUSION. 81 



found that they were not bitten at all, and only sufiered 

 from the effects of fear or of enormous doses of alcohol. 

 On persons really bitten, but completely paralysed 

 and comatose, observations were also unsatisfactory, as 

 they had to be supplemented by second-hand evidence 

 obtained from those who had been with them before 

 they became unconscious. Thus within 25 years the 

 author did not see more than halfa-dozen really 

 instructive cases ; and frequently his desire for more 

 evidence overcame his reluctance to inflict on animals 

 the agony of snakebite he had himself endui'ed, and 

 he made a few experiments, but soon gave them up 

 again as unsatisfactory. All the evidence, however, 

 he had thus far collected tended to confirm the correct- 

 ness of his ideas as to the action of snake-poison. At 

 last, some ten years ago, he obtained absolute certainty, 

 and this, strange to relate, by a case of spiderbite. 



He was called early one morning to visit a little 

 boy, two years old, and on examination found that he 

 presented symptoms almost identical with those of 

 snakebite poisoning. Although there was no evidence 

 of the child having come in contact with a snake, the 

 writer naturally concluded that during the night a 

 snake had obtained access to the bedroom through the 

 open door or window, and after biting the child 

 sleeping in its low cot, had escaped again. He 

 therefore searched most carefully for the usual two 

 punctures, but they were not to be found. The child 

 evidently laboured under the effect of some poison, 

 and spiderbite suggested itself, but the symptoms 



