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THE NEW AFRICA 
which viperine vitality seems at maximum point, an unob¬ 
structed bite into bare flesh will certainly cause the death of a 
human being, unless remedies are immediately applied. On the 
other hand, a hurried snap at a passing object, made by a reptile 
probably suddenly awakened from sleep, or perhaps half torpid 
from cold, may only inflict a slight scratch, and thus inject a mini¬ 
mum of poison, which, however possibly serious in its results, will 
still have its intensity regulated by the more or less amount of 
venom injected at the moment, and also be more or less influ¬ 
enced by the vivacity or torpidity of the brute, according to the 
temperature and circumstances under which the bite takes place. 
It is a well-known fact that serpents become inactive in cold 
weather to a certain degree, but that a marvellous activity is 
again displayed at temperatures varying between one and four 
degrees plus centigrade, or thirty-two to thirty-eight degrees 
Fahrenheit, when the beasts, in fear of freezing, suddenly leave 
their temporarily occupied shelter to seek deeper holes and 
corners in the ground that are not liable to a sinking of tem¬ 
perature below four degrees centigrade in their depths. Even 
when hibernating, snakes become very restless at this point of 
temperature, and will rush about to find some congenial habi¬ 
tation, where they can pass the winter more securely. At 
freezing point they expire most miserably of cold, although some 
recent experiments have proved that these reptiles have a small 
amount of animal warmth of their own, somewhere about half 
a degree, and are not purely cold-blooded animals, as hitherto 
believed. 
Many remedies for snake-bite have been suggested, the first 
one, of sucking the wound immediately after the bite, being of 
most practical value. But care must be taken that the one who 
undertakes this delicate task has no wounds on his lips or mouth, 
or else he exposes himself to the possibility of absorbing some 
of the poison through this channel. This operation is best 
carried out by making a cross incision in the bite about as deep 
as the fang penetrated, and vigorously sucking the wound, 
care being taken that the whole substance thus taken up is 
