The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-09-20

'orhere's not mite else in the wound
''Well, 1 am darned."
"All the same" the doctor added qui-
city, he'd have died if you hadn't kept
him going"
"Died! What OFF,
''Snake bite; shake him up, there; don't
let him go drowsyi"
Snake bite! Heavens and earth.
thought you said there was nothing in
his foot beyond the 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
a 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, al
though I've never seen it, nor ever thought
L sshould; and that in connection with a
collie and a cobra in India. In that case,
too, there was no snake bite, al
though there was a snake. The coolie
saw the snake; it darted from beneath
his feet, and at the moment Qikely from
the start he gaVe) a thorn pierced his
foot, just as it happened to the Greaser.
And that man, too, the same as this man
here, swelle1 up, showed all the synip-
toms Of snake poisoning and died. This
man We IL SAVE LOug JObhg ndNb pA0l-
tlcally saved him, by keeping him NOV
ing, and countet acting the poison by the
brandy. Look at the man; isn't he snake
poisonedY'
"By all that's blue he looks It," Jock
admitted.
''And all the hurt he's got, the physical
hurt, is just the pin prick of that thorn.
The rests all mental-all the swelling,
the surcharging of the vessels, 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 I suppose"
you're right, dead; as dead as you or
would be II we set to drink the same just
now. But he. he's hardly drunk he's
sober. And he's better now, heart acting
better" He bent and listened to its beat
ing as he spoke. you've seen strange
thing tonight gentlemen" he added ris-
ing again, and addressing us collectively;
such thing as neither you nor / are
likely ever to see again. And / tell you
another thing about it, gentlemen It's a
great deal Of credit for when you come to
tell Il to the boys. There's a fashion in
this world for men to believe they know
the way things happen; and the thing
that happens in a way they don't know
they put aside as thing that didn't
happen. 30 OF tulS,f the DOCTOR dQueu
simply, II should only speak as among
gentlemen, with hand on the pistol
pocket at the hip"
After a while the awful distortion Of
Louies face began TO go down. You can
almost see it settling like a batter pud-
ding" as Jim Kelly said; and the fearful
purple tinge deed out Of II. 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 IL 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. II appeared later that
Louie had cherished a morbid dread OF
snakes for a long while, ever since he
had had q hand IN killing one six feet
long down in the republic OF Mexico;
though after a couple Of years on the
ranch he had almost forgotten that there
were such things. A man that is nervous
about snakes should never go barefoot in
the hills.
''It only shows what I told YOU" Jock
Peters commented. "Strychnine is the
thing for snake bite, because II Is such
nerve tonic II a man could make believe
he had not been bitten he need never die
OF snake bite. If ever I'm bitten | shall
make believe It was a cactus spine"