The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-12-17
THE DEADLY COBRA.
How 1t Strikes and then Follows / S
Victims.


as LiGhtning-The Fnnss and the
Poison Glands Act SeparateIy-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. IL that
were the case, the cobra could not seize It's
food--e. g., a rat-without ln1ectlhg IL
with the poison. The real fact IS there is
fine tube running from the base OF eaen
of the two fangs backward under 5he eye
to an almond shaped gland or Dag WHICH
contains the poison. This gland is con-
stantly secreting the poison, Win 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 a circular muscle
binds the tube somewhere about the mid
die. But when the cobra strikes It's prey
this muscle is relaxed and another one
soueezes the poison bag and thus injects
the poison.
But let us Q6SCTiD6 tu0 WiOl6 prOCSbb Ol
striking and see what the cobra does when
he means mischief. He expands his head
and rears at least third of his length in
the air, with the rest Of the body coiled in
the form of 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 basilisks, his forked
I 1rryh iTlfy
sound Suddenly he throws back his head
in a low curve, and as swiftly darts for
ward to his victim, partly as plunge and
partly as spring, unfolding portion OF
his coil 80 increase his range. 1t looks as
if the cobra sprang INTO the air; but, as a
matter of fact, his belly usually touches
the ground at the moment of striking, in
order to afford him sufficient leverage to
imbed his fnngs firmly in the body of the
victim.
The action is magnificent, and yet swift
as a lightning flash The tongue is with
drawn, the mouth wide open. The fangs
fall ON the victim as 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
lfS D6oA Olio SluCtly ollOAO D1tA w SA-@J SAAS
puncture.
Now, the mere striking of the blow is
not enough, and If 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 necessary to in
ject the poison. In certain cases indeed,
by strong muscular action, the poison
has beeu injected almost simultaneously
with the blow-nay, in case where the
cobra was Unfortunately reused to fury the
poison was shot out by strong muscular
effort while the cobra was still in the act
OF plunging-and in this case the would
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 injected after the
blow. though it be but half second after.
That half second has saved many life,
for instance, where the blow, not being
struck full in the body, but only on the
edge of it, the cobra slipped off the body
by the mere impetus of the blow, causing
the fangs to scratch along the skin in two
thin lines.
Assuming, however, that the blow has
been struck full on the body of the victim,
the cobra Immediately after the blow g.,
as soon as he has partially recovered from
his own impetus which is in about sec
ond or so-wriggles his head either to the
right or to the left This act of turning
helps to squeeze the poison gland situated
on that side to which the cobra has turned,
and thus to inject the poison over the
puncture on that SIDE (Of course II the
cobra has time to turn both ways then the
poison is deposited on both wounds, and
the condition of the victim is doubly des-
perate) After this discharge the cobra
usually drops off the limb in an inert mass
as If considerably though temporarily,
weakened by the loss Of the precious fluid.
But to resume. 1t will, therefore, be
apparent that ~ the fangs are employed
merely to cause the wound or wounds
that is, to open up communication with
the blood of the victim-and (2) the poison
deposited on the wound mixes with the
blood and eventually causes death, as will
be mentioned later on. Hence 1t will be
noted that If the poison is not able to en-
ter the wound there is no danger. In
other words, if the cobra bites person,
not on the naked skin, but through a
fairly substantial garment, the fangs will
go through right enough, but the poison
will be deposited on the garment and not
on the wound. In such a case, if the per-
son bitten were to remove the garment
before the poison has had time to soak
through it, he is in no danger.
On the other hand, If there is already a
wound or sore on the body, then even a
blow from fangless cobra will be fatal.
Snake charmers are well aware OF this fact
and are particularly careful on such occa-
sions as the following: A band of these
men were exhibiting before the writer
when they proceeded to show graphically
how a cobra strikes its prey. They pro-
duced magnificent specimen, full 8 feet
in length and as thick as ones wrist
though, of course, fangless. One of the
men struck up monotonous tune on a
wind instrument. The cobra Immediately
reared it's head full 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
off his tunic and stood naked to the waist
His barred back was carefully examined to
see that there was not SO much as
scratch on it. He knelt down about two
feet in front of the cobra and waited.
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