The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-05-24


From the New York Tribune.
In all times and in almost all lands the
venom Of serpents has been dreaded as
among the dealiest infections humanity
could suffer. Folk lore. classic fable. and
even sacred myths. have turned upon the
theme. 1t is the poison of a snake that
torments Lod for the crime of Baldur's
death' and it is the venom of the Midgard
serpent that will. i'm Ragnarok. al laN
destroy earth-shaking Thor In Holy writ
the viper is made type Of deadly evil.
Fliny and CELSIUS devote chapters TO dis
cussing possible cures for snake bites. An
asp was the means of death chosen by the
woman for whom half the known world
was thrown away. In these later years and
these prosaic times the literature of snake
stories is volummous, and the deadliness
of rattlesnaAes and copperheads proverb-
JAIL In India d. is reckoned that 100000
persons perish every year from the bites of
oobras and other snakes. In this coun-
Try nobody knows how many lives are
saved only by liberal potations of wills
Ky, or how many men are driven to drink
as an advance antidote to snake bites
feared for the future
Whatever the merits of whisky as a cure
for rauteSndke bites. its efficacy for the
bites OF other So penis is not apparent.
IRE copperhead Ia America. the cobra i'm
India and various other serpents else
where have a venom too deadly for any
medicine hitherto known so that their
uite mas meant practically inevitable
death. The announcement thar a certain
cure has apparently been at last dispOy-
erred Is sure, therefore, 10 arouse great i'm
iefeet. Such announcement is now pretty
confidently made. Experiments upon ami
mails ana upon men have seemed to demon
9trate the efficacy of the treatment and
rFH 10 Df iasa f.f Of
bla beng one of these days regarded as
scarcely more serious than that of a mos
qu-tao Indeed it may be deemed less Sc
ii1-S, u III DE true, as recent 1nVesuga-
-ats Indicate, that the mosquito is the
great dissemination of malaria.
Credit for the discovery of a cure FOR
snake poison is doubtless to be given III
umately to the late Louis Pasteur Ii
was he VINO began in another field the sell
enuuc Investigations which have led to
thls result among many others of similar
nenel1cence to mankind. The working OUT
OF this specific remedy has been CHIEFLY
accomplished by Prof. Thomas r. Fraser.
on the University of Edinburgh, and he
would douDuess be generally regarded a.
lne actual diScOVerer. For more than
twenty-five years he has given close ana
dIuloat lncessant attention to the subject, |
until now he has perfected what seems
a real remedy for the bites of even the
ueaQuest serpents. He began his work
I'D 1863, adopting the theory that the ven
ON OF snakes contains within itself it's "a
own antldOte. This theory, save in the
particular FORM Of application, was not g
"a lSlhdI with MN. On the contrary, il is
Ola and widespread. As Prof Fraser a
HmseI reminds us, innumerable old le.
8eAds indicate that from a remote period I
of time the belief has existed that 4 a
power may be acquired by man of suc d
cessIully resisting the VenOmous serpentl $
ana even OF successfully resisting al y
poisonous effects of their bites ~ J.
Psylh of Africa, the Marsi of italy. n {
Gouni OF India and other ancient trits q
and sects We're said to have been immre '
against serpents' bites because serDets'
blood was present i'm their veins. In u1rc g
modern times the same belief is expJss- /,
ca IN the writings of many travellers we =
are told that the negroes of Guinea lave =
3 LeaL reverence and respect for Eakas a
ana a ma worship } them as gods. They 1Alare Il
thdt IL Is good to be bitten b these -
SNAKES, upon the plea that one i Thereby T.
secured ana protected from the Fte of any o
Z olsolous snake In SoutherE, Africa it q
= common practice for theHottentots g
10 eaten snakes, squeeze outthe poison a
rom thelr teeth and drink i They say .
IId r. lhem only littl giddy, and
mat II preserves them aftrWard from y.
a serpent. Il
Prof Fraser got his first apply of cobra d
'oiison from India in 1863 Il was not suf- II
-cleuI Iof any extended eperiments. Yet Il
'e succeeded in demonstrating to his own n
d usLdcIOn that the Tep6ted administra- x,
Ioh OF very small dOsesfe rendered animals 3
immune against largerAnd even ordina- Il
Ivy fatal doses His beXt undertaking IN
as 10 accumulate az ample supply of | =,
make poison, and in ris he was, thanks "
o the cooperation 4 scientific men in e.
ehef parts of the world, at length sue ~
-99t uI. lie got qua titles OF ratuesnake r,
nd copperhead polon from the United II
tateS, cobra pOsOnLrO India, Duff-adder ! -
o-soh from Afric9and the venom of the ,,
lgdued brown sn9Ie from Australia He Il
au, therefore, lie venom of the most | y
eddly of the sIlkeS of America. Asia | u
.lilca and Australia, the representatives ! u
an the classs OF snake poison in the | =,
Meantime oper investigators took up a
ne work on nelr own account SeWall / v,
B 1856 undertook an estigation with | q
5tLesnake poison and found that by re- u
eated inocUation with small doses pig W
lus could pc rendered immune against | -
Ven times the ordinary lethal dose Kan ~
lack MADE similar experiments in 1891 =
pom rabbits with cobra poison, with the ~
anne result. Kaufman, in 1891 and Phi ~
4 LA and Bertrand, in 1893, did the same A
-lh the venom Of Vipers. In 1894 Cal n
cite continued and improved upon these
peflnenJs, ana also showed that the
God serum of animals made immune by
aqmlnistratlon of venom possesses d
lal1 degree Of antidOtal efficacy. re
il W estern Barbary there is sect OF g.
q Ike charmers, who frequently handle 20
ld allow themselves to be bitten by ven ra
nous serpents. These people claim to de
avs obtained their immunity in the fol- &C
wing manner: The founder of the sect =.
edna Eiser, was being followed through o1
r desert of SOOs by a great multitude ID
40, becoming hungry, clamored for
aq. On this, he became enraged, and ri
ing upon them uttered a common n,
III i4dl lbiSou. 20 great was -
IT faith in the teaching of this saint Il
~ they acted upon the literal interpre-
.oh of his words, and thereafter ate st
nous snakes and reptiles, and from h;
~ 1me they and their descendants have
20 immune against serpents' bites 1t
vel known that the fakirs of India l.
often bitten by the deadliest serpents W
,. hout injury
Sc facts and other evidence pointing A
1Ae existence Of protection against ven
:. oIlsnated wish to investigate the
teI. 1t was obviously suggested, SAYS /
" fraser, that if protection occurs it m
~ pe caused by some direct result of
@osorption of venom, and, therefore
eAlsteuce could be proved or disproved
lAperment. The general plan to be IN
Wed IN the first stages of the investi-
-3n was suggested by some of the state do
- already made, for they indicate that Ia
uaIs might become accustomed to "a
Loieeted against the effects of ser
plLes by the Introduction into their st
Oh a succession of doses of the 81
m consideration of the facts
l"S the immunity of venomous ser Ia
themselves indicates the same plan ~
oeedure; for it is obvious that these Ia
.H's from an early period of their ex- IN
must absorb venom from their own -