The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-11-23
HOW THE COBRA STRIKES.
The Fangs Are Not in Themselves
Poisonous.


Poisonous.
From the Wide World Magazine.
Now, the so-called poisonous fangs are
not in themselves poisonous-that is, they
are not coated with poison; nor even have
they a capillary tube running inside along
their length. through which the cobra In
jects the poison into the wound II that
were the case, the cobra could not seize
its food e. g., a rat, without injecting It
with the poison No; nature Is not so
clumsy or wasteful In her ordinations
Notwithstanding popular belief to the con-
trary. The real fact Is there Is fine tube
running from the base of each of the two
fangs backward under the eye 20 a almost
alm1nd-shaped gland or bag which con-
tains the poison. This gland Is constantly
se:reting the poison, with small supply
for immediate use. Hence " the tube con-
ne st1ng the gland 20 the base OF the fang
were kept open, che poison would be con-
stantly running out into the mouth of the
cobra and thus wasted to no purpose. To
prevent this a circular muscle binds the
tube somewhere about the middle But
when the cobra strikes its prey this mus
Gle is relaxed and another one squeezes
the poison-bag and thus injects the poison.
striking, and see what the cobra does when
he means mischief. He expands his head
and rears at least a third of his length
in the air, with the rest Of the body cOiled
in the form of a spiral. This spiral form
gives him sufficient anchorage TO rear his
body by sheer muscular effort, and also
the necessary leverage in dealing the blow.
His eyes glisten like obelisks, his forked
tongue darts in and out with a low hiss
i'm CsaaI H. L. L.
head in low curve, and az swiftly darts
forward TO his victim, partly as a plunge
and partly as a spring, unfolding a portion
of his coil to increase his range. II looks
as If the cobra sprang into the air, but,
as a matter of fact, his belly usually
touches the ground al the moment Of
striking, in order TO afford him sufficient
leverage to imbed his fangs firmly In the
body of the victim.
The action is magnificent and yet swift
as a lightning fash. The tongue ia with
drawn, the mouth wide open. The fangs
fall on the victim as a stab, the lower jaw
closing in beneath as a bite. IF the blow
has been fair and square, two small pune
lures are made in the flesh Of the victim
by the two fangs; otherwise, If the blow
has been one sided, there will be only one
puncture
Now the mere striking OF the blow is
not enough. ana " the cobra were inStan-
taneously TO withdraw the fangs after
dealing the blow, his prey would suffer
no worse effect than the pain Of those
needle-like punctures. 1t is still ncces-
sary TO inject the poison. In certain cases,
indeed, by a strong muscular action, the
poison has been injected almost stimuli
taneously with the blow; nay. in a case
where the cobra was inordinately reused
TO fury, the poison was shot out by a
strong muscular effort while the cobra
was stir tn the act Of punging-and IN
this case the woud-be victim, who was
really OUT Of range. escaped the blow, but
had the poison squirted all over him. Still,
however in most cases the poison is inject
ed after the blow-though it be but half
second after. That half a second has
saved many life--for instance, where
the blow, not being struck fun IN the body,
but only on the edge Of IL. the cobra slip
ped off the body by the mere impetus
OF the blow causing the fangs 10 scratch
along the skin IN two thin lines.
Assuming, however, chat the blow has
been struck full on the body OF the vic
tim, the cobra Immediately after the blow
q. G., as soon as he mas partially recoy-