1871.] 133 [Sceva. 



or not ; and in nearly all the experiments made afterwards he 

 had the animal secured, and the fangs of the snake applied 

 to any part of the body required, or the poison taken from 

 the snake and injected under the skin with a hypodermic 

 syringe. Several experiments were made on the mongous 

 by both methods, causing its death in every case. 



Dr. Thomas Dwight, Jr., inquired if any one had attempted 

 to give any reason for supposing that the mongous enjoyed a 

 special immunity from the effects of the cobra poison. 



Mr. Sceva said the habits of the animal were somewhat 

 similar to those of the weasel. He thought no anatomist or 

 physiologist would find anything to favor the presumption 

 that its blood could withstand the action of cobra poison 

 better than that of other animals of its kind, although he 

 thought it probable that there might be those who would 

 consider the mere fact of the mongous attacking and killing 

 the cobra enough to warrant the belief that the animal was 

 differently organized from others; and notwithstanding the 

 best evidence to the contrary, there were those who still un- 

 reasonably believed that the mongous, by eating the cobra's 

 flesh, could resist the action of the poison. 



Dr. C. T. Jackson remarked that many think the hog 

 is not affected by the poison of the rattlesnake, as it is 

 known to attack and kill the snake. 



Mr. Sceva believed that hogs would attack and kill poison- 

 ous snakes in almost every part of the world. He had never 

 seen a hog at the commencement of his attack upon a poi- 

 sonous snake, but on one occasion he had seen one with 

 both fore feet on the snake's head and neck while he was 

 tearing open the body with his teeth. He had met with 

 many people in North and South America, and in India, who 

 thought that the venom of snakes could not affect the hog, 

 but this supposition had been proved by careful experiments 

 to be incorrect. In India he had seen a hog bitten by a co- 

 bra on the ear and on the inside of the fore leg ; the action 

 of the poison and the time of its death were shown to be 



