149 



or the hamadryad, was very cautious in handling the 

 Dahoia ; he considered that he was not proof against the 

 poison of that snake and said that a finger, the absence of 

 which I had observed, had been chopped off to save him 

 from the efiects of a bite he had received in handling it. 



The Callophicl,es. Of the effects produced by the bite of 

 these snakes we know little or nothing. They are very small 

 and have such short fangs that fatal results are not much 

 to be feared. They are by no means common in India. 



Sea-STMkes. The Hydrophidce are, as far as we know, 

 all venomous. A case is on record, where a sailor of a man- 

 of-war anchored at Madras, was bitten by a sea-snake 7^ 

 feet long while handling it. Two and a half hours after- 

 wards he was seized with black vomit and spasms of the 

 throat ; and he was dead in four hours after the bite. 



These snakes are usually very inoflfensive ; though the 

 Indian coasts swarm with them it is extremely rare that 

 any accidents happen to the fishermen. Out of the water 

 they are blind and sluggish. In the* following case, re- 

 corded by Dr. Fayrer, the person was bitten while bath- 

 ing, and curiously enough had not the slightest idea of 

 how his illness occurred until a Burman remarked that his 

 symptoms were those of the bite of a sea-snake. The case is 

 that of a ship Captain at Moulmain, who while bathing at 

 8 P. M. - felt a bite which he thought was that of a crab. 



dog died in 18^ hours, the symptoms coming on slowly. But, as 

 Dr. Shortt observes, the experiment was irregularly carried out. 



It may be asked why I do not make these experiments mj'self. The 

 reasons are 1° that I have a great dislike to anything like cruelty 

 to animals. 2° That in experiments on snake poison the sHghtest 

 approach to the discovery of an antidote appears to affect that part 

 of the brain in which phrenologists locate the faculty of judgment. 

 I do not wish to expose myself to the risk of this mental aberrance. 



