1895.] G. Ranking — Artificial Immunity. 301 



There can be no doubt that this o^ acquitted a great reputation 

 as a certain remedy for snake bite, and although its virtues may have 

 been exaggerated, there is no reason for attributing to it the quality of 

 uselessness, so that it really amounts to this, that the ancients were 

 undoubtedly in possession of a means of counteracting the poison of 

 venomous snakes. 



Up to the present our position has been very different, in spite of 

 all tlie labour which has been expended we have never as yet in 

 modern times, at least, so far as the history of medical science goes, 

 possessed a reliable remedy for snake bite. The effectual bite of a 

 venomous snake has meant certain death. Our greatest authority, Sir 

 Joseph Fayrer, states that after long and repeated observations in India 

 and subsequently in England, he has been forced to the conclusion that 

 all the remedies hitherto regarded as antidotes to snake poison are ab- 

 solutely without specific effect upon the condition produced by the 

 poison. 



If then the ancients had so much the better of us, it is worth our 

 while to find what clue to the solution of the problem we can gain from 

 their practice. 



The statements regarding the constitution of this famous c3^/ J 

 are very few and very vague. 



But I have happened in the course of reading to light upon a 

 passage in an Old Arabic MS. in the library of the College of Fort 

 William, which throws a most interesting light upon the subject, and 

 tends to corroborate the results obtained by Dr. Fraser. The passage I 

 refer to runs as follows : — I quote it in full though the part referring to 

 the etymology of the word o^ji is common knowledge — 



[The quotation is from a MS. (No. 194) called yt>\ y s?ljsr> (Ocean of 

 Pearls) of date 937 H. (1530 A.D.) the author being Muhammad ibn- 

 Yusuf, the physician, of Herat. The MS. bears date 1114 H. (1702 

 A.D.) according to the colophon it is the work of one Hafiz Muhammad 

 Husain ibn-Hafiz 'Ali who copied it for his own use. The place where 

 he copied it is not stated.] 



" The word o'jy " writes our author " is a Greek word derived 

 from the word (jj^y which is the name given to that which is veno- 

 mous among animals, such for instance, as vipers and similar serpents. 

 It is said that the <jj'^r> (tirydq) is only so called after the flesh of 

 vipers has been cast into it, and then only because the viper is one of 

 the venomous class of animals. One of the learned doctors states that 

 the word (3'iP is derived in the Greek language from the name given 

 to biting animals ( (J*y^\ ol^i ) and venomous animals ( ^♦~J| ca>fjj ) 



