342 -'"TlMfiHRl. 
More than this, the essential constitution of snake- 
poison is utterly different from a "ferment;" Its analysis 
yields nothing comparable to an infeCting organism, and 
in fa6l solutions of snake-poison have been submitted to 
thermal conditions which preclude the existence of an 
infefting organism, and yet these solutions' produced the 
characteristic effeCt of normal poison in its characteris- 
tically rapid manner. 
That the poison of snakes produces no effeCt on snakes 
of the same kind, lends no support to the probable efficacy 
of an inoculation in man to prevent the result of snake- 
poison. In the one case the result is dependent upon 
natural conditions, naturally and normally inherent in 
the individual forms, and there is nothing whatever to 
justify an analogy with the other set of conditions which 
are foreign to the human organism. It would seem pos- 
sible to inoculate against snake-poison when it has 
been allowed or has been shown to be possible to 
inoculate against such a poison as strychnine. By 
this use of the term inoculation is meant, not the 
injection of a remedial measure after the poisoning-agent 
has been introduced into the system, but the introduction 
into the system of some agent which should preclude the 
possibility of thea6tion of the poisoning-substance when 
introduced later —perhaps after the lapse of years. 
So far it has been my lot to meet with only one un- 
doubted professor of this inoculation theory, one who 
professed to such an extent, that he was ready to inocu- 
late persons for some small fee, — but, unfortunately, when 
brought to the test, he collapsed utterly. In this case, 
moreover, the belief was held by an individual gifted 
with extraordinary credulity, for he not only believed 
