X 
MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES &C. 
grasped an object by its jaws, and fixed its fangs in it, the same 
movement forces the poison with great force into the wound. 
It is a general belief that unless a wound exists no injury will en¬ 
sue from the poison of the snake, and in the course of some experi¬ 
ments lately made in Italy, this belief is strengthened, by the fact of a 
pupil of Professor Mangili’s having swallowed at once the whole 
poison of four vipers, without suffering any inconvenience, and that 
of six vipers was given to a blackbird, that of ten to a pigeon, and 
that of sixteen to a raven with no other effect beyond slight and 
transient stupor. But the indulgence of this belief, that provided 
there is no abrasion or wound of the mucous membrane, the poison 
can be safely applied, may lead to dangerous consequences as is shown 
by the following facts. 
1st. A Syce to Mr. L-the other evening, while in the 
cook house, was attracted by a large dog who accompanied him 
making certain indications of pursuing something ; he looked and 
saw it to be the black Cobra di Capello. The dog made a spring 
at it, the Cobra coiled itself erect, distended its neck, and without 
springing made a hissing puffing noise. The man called away the dog 
until he got a stick to kill it, but on his return to do so found it had 
disappeared. The next day the dog’s eyes were dreadfully inflamed, 
and the conjunctiva covering the eye, as well as lining the eyelids, 
much swollen, but in 3 or 4 days all inflammation vanished and no 
% 
traces of the effects of the poison were left. 
2nd. A dog belonging to Mr. D— - not many days before 
was similarly treated by a like description of snake; and 
3d. Almost at the same time a Butler of Mr. A——— on see¬ 
ing a black Cobra attempted to take hold of it by the tail, when 
3t turned round and puffed the poison in his eye, from the effects 
of which he suffered for some days, but differently from the dog, he 
having merely redness of the conjuctiva and pain to such an extent 
as to deprive him of sleep for 2 nights. 
From these cases we see 
1st. That the Cobra has the power of projecting his poison to 
some distance, in one of the cases the distance must have been 3 feet* 
