Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-11-25
THE DEADLY COBRA.
Even Fansiess Specimen May some
times Iufftct Death.
From the Wide World Magazine.

From the Wide World Magazine
Now. the so-called poisonous fangs ara
not in themselves poisonous-that IS. they
ere not coated with poison: nor even have
'hey 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 no; seize
IT'S tood g. &, a rat. without injecting Il
with the poison. No: nature Is not SO
clumsy or wasteful in her 0rdtaations not
withstandiug popular belief 10 the con-
fary. The real fact Is. there Is a fine tube
running from the base OF eacn Of the TWO
fangs backward under the eye to an a.
mond-shape gland or bag which contains
the poison. This gland is constan .ly secret
iEg the poison, with a small SUNNY for
immediate use Hence. IL the tube connect
ING the gland 10 tho base Of the fang we're
kept open, the poison would be constantly
running out INTO the mouth of the cobra
ana thus wasted TO no purpose. To pre-
vent this a circular musc.c binds the tuue
somewhere about the mLddla Ilut when
me COBRA strikes its prey this muscle is
IelaNeu ana another one squcezes the
poison Dag and thus ini.cts the poison
But let us describe The whole process Of
strlk-nE, and see what the cobra does when
| he means mis- hilf. He expands his head
a t rears al Ieasi third OF mis- length an
the AR. with the rest of the body cooled
IN the form of spiral. This spiral form
gives him sufficient anchorag, TO rear his
hony by sheer muscular effort ana also the
necessary leverage in de aling the how
| His eyes slisten like obelsks. mis- {, rked
| tongue darts in and out with a low Kissing
sound. Sujdcn.y he throws back his head
| II low curve. ami swiftly cars for
ward to his victim, party - a plunge and
parity as spring unfolding a portion of
ms coil TO increase his range. Ii looks as
II the cobra sprang into the sir bat as a
matter OF fact, his belly usually tou h :
he a
rider to afford him sufficient Leverage, to
victim.
The acticn Is magnificent AMI yet swift
As lightning flash. The tongue is with
| drawn, The mouth wide open. The farns
AN on Ia" N!otIm as a stab the icwer jaw
cIosinS in beneath as a bite IL the blow
| has been fair aud squara, TWO small ounc-
| -ures are made in the flesh OF tn victim by
| the two fangs. otherwise, If the blow has
'een one-Slded there will be only one pune
.ure.
Now, The mere striking of the blow IL
| l"t enough. and If ihc cobra were instan-
ahecuSly to withdraw the fan-S after
| iCaling the blow. his prey " su'd suffer 40
| worse ehect Than the pain + those u. e.le-
| Ike punctures. Ii is still necessary 10 in
| ect the poison. In certain cases ind. ed
| " a strong muscular action. the pois u
las been injected Almost simultaneously
| with IN" blow: nay, in case wncrc the
| COBRA Was lnCrdinatolS rous Il 20 fury, the
| bosom was sho1 out by strong muscular
| Hort while the cobra WIS still in the act
| If plunging- i'm this case the wpulf-I,
| 'lc;m, who was really out of range. IS
| ;aped the blow, hut had the poison sqtirtcd
| Il over him. StiIl. hUwtV,r. in most case
| he poison is injected after the D. CIV
| houGh ii be hut half second al = That
| lalf second has saved many life-fCr
| Instance, where the b ow, not being struck
| ull in the body. hut Only On th,. ,.iya Of i
| he cobra slipped off the body ~ ;ha more
| impetus OF the blow, caus ng lie iaags 10
sr~Df oh al nnns Ffa.a Ii
| Assuming, however, that the blow has
| zen struck full on the body of the victim
| he cobra Immediately after the blow a. O.
: soon ne has partially recovered from
lis own impetus. which is i'm about "A sec
M or SOD wTiggiCS his head either to the
| light or to the left This act Of turning
| Helps to squeeze the poison gland situated
| n that side to which the cobra has turned
| nd thus 10 inject the poison over the pune
| ure on that side. (Of course If the cobra
| las time to turn both ways. then the poi
| on Is deposited on both woundS-and the
| condition of the victim is doubly desperately
liter this discharge the cobra usually drops
If the limb in an inert mass az If consid-
tably, though temporarily. weakened by
he loss of the precious fluid There may,
# course, be sufficient secretion still left
the bag TO give second bite immediate
y after, but in that case the wound NAV
| Iot necessarily be fatal II usually takes 4
| CIV hours. sometimes days. to accumulate
| he full supply again. There was however
| me case within the writer's know ledge
| Snere three small children were successive
bitten by u large cobra and all three died
| n consequence.
| But to resume. 1t will. therefore. be ;-p-
| parent that % the fangs employed
merely to cause the wound wounds. e..
open up a communication with the blood
| If the victim: and 90 the poison deposited
| m the wound mixes with the blood and
'ventually causes death, as will he mention
Il later on. Hence 1t will be noted that il
he poison is not able to enter the wound
here is no danger. In other words If the
obra bites person. not on the naked skin
out through fairly substantial garment.
he fangS Will go through right enough, but
he poison will be deposited on the garment
| and not on the wound. In such case IL
he person bitten were to remove the gar
raent. al least from the Immediate neighhor-
| hood of the wound. before the poison has
| had time To soak through it. he is in no
iGnRer Whatever.
on the other hand, il there is already a
wound or sore on the body then even a
blow from fanGlcss cobra will he fatal
Snake charmers are well aware of this fact,
ma are particularly careful on such occa-
Sions as the following band of these men
were exhibiting before the writer. when
after few odd feats, they proceeded Ia
show graphically how a cobra strikes its
nrey. They produced a magnificent speci-
"en. fully tVC feet I'm length and as thick
IS ones wrist, though, of course. fauyless.
mo OF III" men struck nm TnoDotnnous
tune on a wind instrument something like n
highland baguioe. The cobra Immediately
reared IFS head fully two feet from the
ground and began swaying its body grace
fully in time with the music in evident
pleasure. Then one of the other men took
III his tunic and stood naked to ;he waist
lis barred back was carefully examined TO
soc that there was not SO much as :,
'cratch on it, He knelt down about two feet
n front of the cobra and waited.
Suddenly. at a given signal the music
stopped. In fierce anger the cobra launched
Forth at the kueeling figure as being the
nearest; but, almost simultaneously with
he stoppage or the music, the man droppcd
his head on his knees and received the blow
on his barred back The cobra nausea lust
one second after striking. and then turned
IN its head and fell off There was a huge
drop OF poison on the back Of the perform
or He wiped it off carefully with a piece
Of cloth and proceeded with the rest OF the
performance.