WILD ANIMALS IN CAPTIVITY 
and strong belief, and those who come forward with that 
intention may be allowed to cry — 
“Despair thy charm.” 
In taking up this subject the writer must ask the 
reader’s consideration of the following mode of treating 
the conflicting statements and disputed points published 
in various works. Now suppose a man or other animal is 
bitten by a well-known venomous serpent, by what test or 
means can we ascertain that the man or animal so wounded 
has received the poison in sufficient quantity to destroy life ? 
It is well known that these creatures often inflict severe 
wounds that are not poisoned, but the shock received on 
the infliction is sufficient to produce, especially upon a 
nervous organization, an amount of alarm and consequent 
derangement so as to give the appearance of actual poison. 
Well-recorded instances are not wanting to show that 
persons bitten by serpents destitute of poison have died 
from the effect of the bite. Some years ago a keeper in 
the Zoological Gardens in Dublin was bitten by one of 
the harmless boas, and the terror that ensued, together 
with a somewhat shattered constitution, proved fatal 
in a few hours, in spite of every aid that was promptly 
afforded by the most skilful medical men in attendance 
upon him. There is nothing to justify us in supposing 
that man only is capable of this panic-stricken alarm at 
being wounded by a serpent. Let any one who has wit- 
nessed the battles that take place between snake-eating 
animals and their prey say, if he can, that the victims 
exhibit no fear and are careless of the bites of the snakes. 
To say so would prove that such person is not a trust- 
worthy observer. 
It is true that the ichneumon will rush, sometimes, upon 
the snake so eagerly that he gets wounded, but its most 
frequent and certain mode of proceeding is with caution, and 
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