The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-03-30
WILKS SNAKE OF POISON.
SUPPLIES OF VENOM GATHERED BY
WEALTHY AUSTRALIAN.

nm Tests Made on Animals.
strange Laboratory In sydney
where J. McGarvie Smith studies
ReptfIes and Analyses Their Dead
Is Secretions.
From the san Francisco Examiner
australia has a snake crank who is a
- man. and collects poisonous reptiles
80 a-1usernent. He has devised an ingen-
s-.s mechanism for milking" snakes OF
their poison
.,- the purpose Of sending 1t TO the Pas
.sur Institute in Paris. There it is used
IN SCIENTIFIC experiments.
The snake expert is J. McGarvie Smith.
10 is a native of Sydney, and he studied
cE4mistry there for several years. after
bieb he went into metallurgy, in which
h. made a fortune.
After studying bacteriology in Europe,
Afr Smith went back TO Sydney and took
mn the study of snake life, of which Aus
traN3 is peculiarly prolific, especially in
.bl poisonous varieties. The experiments
Tsrformed at the Pasteur Institute in
paris by DR.. Chalnette were made with
srake poison, which this gentleman had
sent from Australia
Mr. Smith is now working in connection
with DR.. Roux of Paris in endeavoring to
and an effective cure for snake bite. Last
wear when he advertised for 500 venom
4 ans reptfles, one Australian editor refused
n Insert the notice in his paper until he
had been assured of the sanity Of the ad-
Mt smith keeps large menagerie Of
snakes i'm his house in Sydney. Some of
these snakes have been eleven months
2-ifhout food, and are yet quite fat.
Mr. Smith says he has injected their
own poison into venomous reptnes, Dut
-
effect He has discovered that even a
non-poisonous snake is not affected by
fhe Doison of a VenomOus reptile.
This scientist admits that, long as ne
has handled snakes, he is still afraid OF
them. The danger is especially great
when if comes to extracting the poison
from a live snake. but this has been
Ininimized by Mr.. Smiths machine.
Mr.. Smith opens a small door in a cage
and masses a lasso over a reptiles mead.
The lassO itself is a masterpiece
on the top of a handle there is a
brass plate with a metal ridge in the
center over this moose is formed ana
regulated with a. steel spring and half
way down the handle a green hide thong
passes through a screw clamp.
Although reptiles can Wriggle through
the smallest opening, they are powerless
in this lasso, for the neck scales sSt
locked in the ridge at the top OF the handle
and the thong Is kept taut by une clamp,
The snake struggles and makes desperate
attempts to catch the fingers of his cap
tor, who quickly fixes the lasso handle IN
his hand if the snake has been caught
throat uppermost. =,
The serpent is now ready for milking.
If it happens TO be a tiger or a deatn-
adder its neck is dilated and its mouth
open, ready to snap at anything that comes
within reach. But if it should be black
snake ii will keep its mouth closed ana,
though evidently enraged, manage to
maintain its dignity.
Mr.. Smith has invented hollow frame
work of metal in the shape of an inclined
plane. Two holes are cut near the sharp
angle, and the edges of the lower hole are
beveled so as to hold a watchglass, which
is kept in position by a spring. A thin
4 rubber sheeting such as is used by dem
A lists i'm stopping teeth, or oiled silk is
passed over the little instrument, which
he calls a mixer.
Mr. Smith then catches the snake be-
hind the head with one hand and with the
other offers it the mixer. The tiger or
the death adder takes it between its jaws
promptly, the muscles of the neck swell,
and you can see the poison flowing from
The fangs into the watch glass below. The
blacksnake, after the first experience, will
object to being milked, and decline to open
its mouth until the scientist has annoyed
il beyond endurance, when it takes the
instrument and buries it fangs in the In
dia rubber. The venom flows into the
glass like raindrops. In order to prevent
the snake from crushing the watch glass
between its jaws Mr.. Smithtputs his fin
gers under the upper lip and forces open
the mouth after the poison has been de-
hvered.
Having secured the poison, the scientist
back of the head. He releases it from
the lasso and catching the tail with the
other hand makes a coil of the body and
skillfully pitches it into the cage.
Although the venom secured in this
way is absolutely free from secretion, it
is still of no use in making experiments
on live animals, for the percentage of
poison in the liquid venom delivered from
the fang varies from Is to SO per cent.
In order to get satisfactory results it is
necessary not only that the liquid venom
should be free from foreign elements,
but that the poison should be stand
ardized. Mr.. Smith places the glass of
liquid poison over chloride of calcium,
In a desicatOr, where it dries without
heat assuming crystal form.
Il find,' he said, that the dried venom
Of the blacksnake and that of the tiger
snake are exactly alike in poisonous
properties. l have demonstrated this by
injecting the one-thousandth. part of
grain of each kind, dissolved in water,
into the medium veins in the ears of two
rabbits five pounds in weight. They died
Mr.. Smith has in his laboratory enough
OF this dry poison to Kill many thou
sands of people. It will keep for all
time.
In water the poison becomes a perfectly
clear solution, passing through the nm
snake or death-adder in good condi
ton, and not MIXED for say eight days.
will give as much as four and half
grains of liquid poison, varying in toxic
strength from 10 to IS per cent.
There is, however, no snake in Australia
so deadly as the American rattlesnake,
whose venom, when once injected into the
blood strikes at the heart with force
and power that places it first among the
polsons. The rattlesnake, moreover. car
ries a greater relative supply of poison
than any other reptile, and he has the
power of quickly replenishing it.
This poison, however, is harmless when
swallowed by a human being, provided
lhere IS no cut or sore in the mouth or
among the intestines. 1t refuses to enter
me system through assimilation with food
IN the stomach.
The reptile uses it to kill his prey, which
after being poisoned, he proceeds to eat,
ana the venom does him no injury, if in
TACT he does not get it back into his sys-
TEN to be used another time. This is an
economy of ammunition not to be found
N any other members of the animal king
dom
The Australian adder is insignificant in
SIZE, rarely exceeding two feet and its
color is so nearly that of the soil that a
man walking in the country comes upon
II unawares Mr.. McGarvie Smith is now
ohe OF the best known providers of snake
poison for scientific experiments.
one gentleman in this city, however, has