128 TlMEHRI. 
knowledge, poisonous snakes have been seen by, or have 
been in dangerous proximity to, individuals. Harmless 
snakes are much more numerous and common than 
poisonous snakes ; and in the generality of cases where 
a snake has been imperfe6lly observed, or observed by 
people really ignorant of their kind, and have been 
described by the names of dangerous snakes, it is likely 
that only a harmless snake was really seen — a presump- 
tion that is a good deal strengthened by the fa6t that, 
even where a harmless snake of any size can be seen 
under the most favourable circumstances, the protrusion 
of a pointed, forked tongue is sufficient for most people, 
to warrant the application of " poisonous " to the poor 
snake : for indeed the delusion is a wide-spread one that 
the forked tongue is a sting or poison-organ of some 
kind. In the same way, it is likely that many of the bites 
which have been attributed to poisonous snakes, have 
really been given by harmless ones ; and this will par- 
tially serve to explain the extreme simplicity of many of 
the remedies said to have been employed in reputed 
cures, and the number of such reputed remedies in various 
countries, as well as the fa6l that when brought to the 
test of experiment on living animals, the reputed remedy 
is a failure. The nostrum may once have had effe6l 
in allaying the nervousness of an individual after 
having been bitten by a snake, but most likely has 
not been a remedy for the venom of a poisonous 
snake. A consideration that is most damnatory to the 
efficacy of certain reputed remedies, is the fa<5i that with 
many of these remedies the preparation demands a series 
of operations that would hardly be completed before the 
death of the person had taken place — on the assumption 
