The Minneapolis journal., 1903-04-18
THE WAcoUrA, ]. ..J. HILLs PRIYATE YAeHT
.naso


Analyzed Il the. So e11cm contains a5 per !
cent Of blood destroying and 5 per cent OF
nerve stroyingS# poson--d directly opposite
to that Of a: cobra. The consequences is
that the victim dies with all the anguish.
and pain Of "a full case of blood poison =.
ing, all the suffering of a protra cted ill-S
ness being crowded iilto$a space of ia few
hours. SS 4:@ t & .3 e Szs3 1 u i N
Of all snakes snone, -iss- at bottom "a
more noble reptile than tina t. peculiar to-
o,,r own count ry.4.. lever vet has a. ttler
struck before giving warning. The slgnai,
as is we'll known. is emitted from the
IA tiles at the tail of the snake. In sound
it resembles the far-away rattle or a
moving machine in a country meadow, or
the kissing emitted by the escape OF
steam from an ordinary radiator. Among
the dangerous snakes of our own south
perhaps not another can come up to the
cottonmouth moccasin: He Is one OF the
few poisonous water snakes in existence,
but his bite is almost as fatal as that OF
the RATHER himself. In the swamps. and
canebrakes Of North and South Carolina
+ the imoccasin is at home. Here ne lies
awaiting anything that comes along in the
+ fish line from frogs to, minhoWs. 80
! .'In the reptile house. when we have a
| brood of young rattlers Or baby mocea-,
sins, every possible care is ken IN thelr
handling. The, youngsters require more
slST>S
sary tc change their water oftener and
| feed them at shorter intervals. In a large
| glass box showing plainly from all SIDES
where the little ones are located, the
| babies are kept. The snake man detailed
| to handle them Is provided with long,
| forceps After opening the door With
care, it is necessary to remove some OF
the brood near the water or the food
! trough to be cleaned One or two OF the
reptiles are picked up between the thin
! foreegs of the instrument and thrown
| into a heap in the farther corner, OF the
cage There it is amusing to watch their
i wrath at having been disturbed. The ut
! tie ones coil into a spiral, their heads are
+ extended, and with the tiny tail. as yet
4 ulnpossessed Of rattles, they perform a
tremolo, as if warning the intruders
), away. p: l'.% 49,.
4 "As to chemical analysis of cobra pois-
| ons a curious fact is that two substances
having almost identically the same chem
ical composition can have effects so differ
ent on the human system as to represent
on the one hand the best supporter o
life and on the other the quickest term1
nation of the same. -:
..Albumen or white of egg and tn
, poison of the India cobra are so nearl.
= alike in composition that it. takes the mos
q careful analysis to determine the differ
, ence 1t was the similarity which for
, long time baffled scientists in finding !
, remedy which would destroy cobra poiso
: taken into the human system. 1t was ar
, gued that whatever was. administered t
= attack the poison would as we'll attack tn
albu1nen of the human system, and tha
the cure would be as bad as the disease.
. 1.-The efforts of scientists toward solvin
: the problem of neutralizing snake poison
= have been unremtting ever since chemlS
try and medicines have been known
man. In our latitude it is difficult to ur
. derstand that. the curse Of the snake sti
: rests heavily on man. But in India and ]
: the jungle countries Of South America tt
8 death rate due to snake bites is enormou
s Annually the Indian list Of cobra victim
e numbers thousands. not to mention II
U victims fallen to the venom of oth'
n snakes The problem. however. has bee
e solved of recent years. antitoxin., the san
I. remedy applied in the case Of diphtheri
being the antidote. Even here in the rel
e tile house we keep a vial of the 1iqu
:. fresh and OH ice, ready for accidents"