366 VENOMS 



moments by teasing it. Irritated by this sport, the snake reared 

 itself up, hissed, and struck at its aggressor several times, as though 

 it would bite him ; but, at each dart, Coupin stopped it with his 

 hand and gaze, and the snake remained fascinated, with open 

 mouth, hesitating to drive home its fangs. At one moment the 

 snake even crawled up to the native's outstretched hand, and ap- 

 peared to lick it : it was evident that the animal's only intention 

 was to defend itself, not to attack. 



Coupin, however, was bent on getting bitten, and, by dint of 

 exciting the snake, the latter became so exasperated that, with 

 hood dilated, it struck at the snake-charmer's right hand and drove 

 in its fangs. The man quietly raised his arm, to allow it to be 

 clearly seen that the cobra had a firm hold ; then, forcing the 

 animal to let go, he came to us to prove that he was really bitten. 

 There were two bleeding spots, 6 millimetres apart, in the centre 

 of the fourth intermetacarpal space of the right hand. The time 

 was exactly 4.40 p.m. 



The snake, which was immediately killed, was still able to 

 yield twelve drops of venom, when lateral pressure was applied 

 to its glands. 



Coupin walked towards a shrub of the kind mentioned above, 

 which he had planted that very morning in the courtyard of the 

 hospital,^ plucked some leaves from it and began to chew them, 

 making rather a wry face, for he said that they were very bitter. 

 He then seemed to meditate for a few moments before the shrub. 

 We asked him whether he was afraid, but he stoutly denied it, 

 declaring that this was not his first experience, and that indeed 

 he had been bitten by cobras so often that he could not remember 

 the first occasion. We endeavoured to discover whether he was 

 not rendered immune, as Indian snake-charmers are reputed to 

 be, by inoculating themselves subcutaneously with increasing doses 

 of venom, according to a principle to a certain extent analagous 



' We subsequently learnt that he had informed his friends of his intention, but 

 had not said a word about it to his wife. 



