The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-12-12
THE DEADLY COBRA,
HOW IT STRIKES AND THEN POL
SONS ITS VICTIMS.

The Action II Magnificent AID Swift
m Lightning-The Fangs and the
POison Glands Act separately-A
Thrilling Exhibition.
Now, the SO called poisonous fangs are
not in themselves poisonous-that Is, they
are not coated with poison, nor even have
they 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 it's
food-e g., a rat-without injecting it
with the poison. The real fact Is there Is
fine tube running from the base of each
of the two fangs backward under the eye
to an almond shaped gland or bag which
contains the poison. This gland Is con-
stantiy secreting the poison, with small
supply for immediate use Hence II the
tube connecting the gland to the base of
the fang were kept open the poison would
be constantly running out into the mouth
OF the cobra and thus wasted to no pur-
pose. To prevent this circular muscle
binds the tubs somewhere about the mid
49,. ,,,,so,s =. ,aI.."a 80 anaths. 10y
snuaa.ss ~. no;snn hsa ana ~. q, ~. LII
IL ro,.on f 0''
~ IL. a.,~,, A. ..,, -.
s+.;L, snS ssa ,.h"+ .ho $50" iaos 49, -.
he means mischief. He expands his head
and rears at least q third of his length In
the air, with the rest of the body coiled in
the form Of spiral. This spiral form
Sody hv .hoor ~, ,,so,,,ar affort md a.
ths nacsssarv ,avaraos IN deal,nS tho h,o,.
His ovos ol;stan ill., h.s,J;sLs h;s forlod
tonoHs darts in and ont With : ,oy b,ss,na
sonnd SnddanIv hs thro,ys h.oL h;s boaS
n H., o,,rno 49, az s,v,st1,, da.t. a..
,y.rf =, HI. u,ot;,,, ,sr.,v 10 a ,,,,nna o,,d
nortlv ao a s,r,ne nnfolain. q rort,,n ~
H. co,I 70 ;nereasa Nc ranas T. JoaIs 90
a. tha ao,,n. s',uas. ,nte H. .,,, ,,,,t -, -
,natton - s.ot ~ ha,1,, ,,s,,.l,,, tn',oho.
tha ,,o,,r5 a. +ha ,,,o,rs,t ~ st,,t,n ~,
49, ~ nttana H., s,,ty;o;on+ ia,,aras. -. -
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'' M, ,..
n1 aooion - "nsni nv, onu 9o0 e"'
40 nsnuns nusn VoDe NO, 20 wv"
ufn"n' sne Lloa'h wiue .pen. no A"nss
lali On ,ro vlosi'n as s.ap, ''ie 'o~ol ;"M
Giosi . ~ pele"sh as oi.o. :. w 'mo p.o~
nae o'on ioii anu e4u"'S' wv '.uaA puao.
.uios alo Laauo III .n ., noe. VI sno '% yum,
~ 'ho WV l"nss oIno. '1u' - on1 o.ow
n"s noon '"e OLIVIA 'n0A0 "A'1 No '"'' ''0
puMo.ure,
Now' 'l,e iiele s.riAine VI Vue n.o" 1s
ho' ehoue,' anu II 1iio ooufa "eio ihsInu-
Aheousiy 10 wlInaraw VIC lungs nlHr
ueains .he pio" MS prey "oui" Suher ~
", Worso ehoo' 'han Ihe pam VI 'hooo neeuio'
IKE puhc0ufes' ~ IN sun NECESSARY 10 IN
joo' gus poisoh' ~ oeioain o"eeS 'nueou'
ny s'rone ihusc"iar acVioh' 'he poisoh
nus oeoh ihJoo'eu a'i',osV si'ilui'aieousiy
WIN uhe pio"-hay' III o''so "iere .,ie
coora WIS lneruila'eiy rouseu W Jury ,ne
poison WAS shoI oue ny s'fon9 ihusc"iat
enore WINE the COBRA was sui IN 'he "c1
ol piuhglhs-aho III 'his case 'iie "oulo
oe 'lctiih' VINO was reaiiy ou' VI r"iee'
escaped the dow, puo hhu the poison
squifteo all over MN otlil' however IN
most cases inc poison Is i,Jectea ai.er INC
dow, though IL De put nail second aiter'
!hat mar secoIa mas saved many ms
lor instance "hsro ehe plo"' ho' pelns
soruok iail In inc pooy, puC only OIL one
euge Vi H. the copra silppeu oii 'he pouy
ny the mere impetus OF inc dow causing
tne lahss 10 SCRATCH along 1he Skin III TWO
thin lines.
Assuming, however that the dow mas
been struck full on tho pody OF the Vlctl1n,
the cobra Immediately ater the dow. g.,
as soon as ne ms paftialiy recovered from
MS own impetus, when Is IN apout seq
ono or so-wrlggles MS heaa elther 10 inc
right or TO tho left. Ihls act OF turning
helps TO squeeze the poison glano situated
on that side to which the cobra has turned,
and thus TO 1n]ec6 the poison over Inc
pnnoture on that side, (Of course II the
cobra has time to turn both ways then the
poison Is deposited on both wounds, ana
the condition OF the victim is doubly des-
rerate.) After this discharge the cobra
usually drops of the limb in an inert mass
as ii considerably, though temporarily,
weakened by tho loss OF the precious mud.
But to resume. 1t will, therefore, be
apparent thht ~ the fangs are employed
merely 10 cause the Wohho or wounds
that Is, to open up i" communication with
the blood OF the victim-and CIV the poison
deposited on the wound mikes with the
blood and eventually causes death, as VIII
be mentioned later on. Hence IL Will DO
noted that if the poison Is not able to ell
ter the wound there is no danger. In
other words, if the cobra bites person,
not on tho naked skin, but through
fairly substantial garment, the fangs Will
go through right enough, but the poison
will be deposited on the garment ana not
on the wound In such case II the per-