Iron County register., 1896-10-29

''Snake-bitei Heavens and eartht
| thought you said there was nothing in
his foot beyond tie thorn"
\ Then the doctor went up to Jock and
| laid hand on each of his shoulders,
and said, very slowly and distinctly:
''You mark me, Jock Peters, we're in
face of bigger thing tonight than
snake bite. We're in face of one of the
biggest and ultimatest facts of human
nature, and one of its biggest mysteries
the influence of the mind upon the
body. I've heard of something like this
case before, although I've never seen it,
nor ever thought should; and that in
connection with a coolie and cobra in
India. In that case, too, there was no
snake bite, although there was snake.
The coolie saw the snake; it darted
from beneath his feet, and at the same
moment Cikely from the start he gaye)
! a thorn pierced his foot-just as it hap
/ pened to the Greaser. And that man,
/ too, the same as this man here, swelled
| up, showed all the symptoms of snake
poisoning, and died. This man weu
save. You, Jock, have practically saved
him by keeping him moving and coun-
| teracting the poison by the brandy.
Look at the man; isn't he snake-poi-
| soned?''
by all that's blue he looks it," Jock
! admitted.
''And all the hurt he's got-the physic-
al hurts just the pin-prick of that
! thorn. The rests all mental-all the
swelling, the surcharging of the YES
sells, mental. Now. tell me, how do
you think that man would be but for
| his morbid mental state, with all that
brandy that you've given him?"
Dead, suppose?'
"You're right-dead; as dead as you
or would be if we set to drink the same
| just now. But he-hc's hardly drunk;
he's sober. And he's better now-beart
acting better" He bent and listened to
| it's beating as he spoke. you've seen
q strange thing tonight, gentlemen"
he added, rising again, and addressing
us collectively; "such thing as neither
| you nor l are likely ever to see again.
| And I'll tell you another thing about
| it, gentlemen; it's a thing that you
won't find a great deal of credence for
when you come to tell it to the boys.
! There's fashion in this world for men
to believe they know the way things
! happen; and the thing that happens in
way they don't know they put aside
as a thing that didn't happen. So of
this" the doctor added, simply. Il
should only speak, as among gentle
men, with the hand on the pistol-pocket
at the hip"
| After awhile the awful distortion of
Louie's face began to go down. "You
can almost see it settling like batter
pudding" as Jim Kelly said; and the
| fearful purple tinge died out of it. His
heart was beating naturally again, and
the doctor said we might let him go
to sleep.
In the morning he was difficult to
rouse, as he might be after so heavy
night, but the doctor said he would do
right enough if we gave him rest for
day or two. And so we did, though his
nerve was so shaken that we had to
send him back to the plain again, where
there are no rattlesnakes. 1t appeared
| later that Louie had cherished morbid
dread of snakes for long while, ever
since he had had hand in the killing
of one six feet long down in the republic
of Mexico; though after a couple of
years on the ranch he had almost for
gotten that there were such things. 4
man that is nervous about snakes
should never go barefoot in the hills.
''It only shows what L told you,'' Jock
Peters commented. "Strychnine is the
thing for a snake bite, because it is
such a nerve tonic. If man could make
believe he had not been bitten he need
never die of snake bite. If ever I'm bit
1
spine"
This is a true story, although it's
| such good one. If anybody doubts it,
he can see the thorn. - MacMilIan's
Magazine.