The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-03-27

terday. when asked to illustrate his
methods of obtaining the virus, Mr..
Davis went about his dangerous task
as if it was the most proSalcs thing IN
the world The RATHER is as harmless
as a fly to him. '.You see," he said, as
he liberated about fifty of his pets in
the yard of his home at 1870 West COL
fax, sit is all in going about them
quietly. You must not get excited.
Just as soon as you move quickly you.
will make the snake think he is about
to be attacked. Then he will strike
back. This is the natural attitude OF
any reptile. You might say it is the
assertion of the law of self-defense.
You go out on the prairie and go
among thousands of rattlers and you
will never be bothered until you do
something to stir the snakes up. In all
my experience 1 found but one snake
that was naturally bad. Every time
/ went into the den he would invari-
ably strike at me. One day he sunk
his teeth in this finger"
Here Mr.. Davis showed one of his
fingers, which felt like solid bone and
flesh 1t hardened all over as the re-
suit of the bite "Just as soon as he
bit me-" continued Mr.. Davis, L bound
the finger to stop the circulation Of
the blood, and then I cut it open with
with my tongue. That is the only way
to save yourself from snake bit. But
for that snake, it was the last Of him.
l took hammer and put him out Of
business Now look at that long fell
low over there" Mr.. Davis pointed to
RATHER whose eyes sparkled with a
dangerous CLEAN. 1--WE will get him
first and show how the poison is
taken"
~,
ignated kept continually issuing from
his mouth, as if he were nervous. Many
people are under the impression that
the poison is contained in this feeler,
but the fallacy of this opinion was
Immediately shown by Mr.. Davis, who
now had the big snake in his hands.
He allowed the reptile to brush his
fingers with the feeler but no harm was
done.
"Now watch him bite said the man
who seems to hold a spell over all the
reptile kingdom. He held a spoon in his
right hand and he suddenly struck at
the snakes head with it. The rattler
arched his neck, his eyes took on a
savage CLEAN and the two teeth in the
roof of his mouth in which is stored
the poison closed on one end OF the
spoon. There was a deposit of brown
ish substance and the snake acted as
If he had spent his energy. in striking
but once. He was thrown on the ground
and another snake allowed to do the
same thing. After the process was re-
peated about dozen times the amount
of poison deposited equaled the size Of
the head of a match.
"Of course said Mr.. Davis, sit would
hardly do to do this more than three
times a week. 1t isn't much Of a task,
but it might get the snakes in bad
temper. Of course, would never fear
handling a snake. If they just go about
it quietly it is all right. There is no
such thing as charm in it. Some peo-
pie say l have some magnetic force, but
there is no such thing. My experience
with snakes has given me the oppor-
tunity of knowing their ways well SO
that I know just how to handle them
WITHOUT arousing their wrath And
Mr.. Davis turned his attention to a
ella monster that wandered aimlessly
about the yard. Even the children
playing in the vicinity seemed to have
a supreme contempt for this monster
whose poison is so deadly. They ran
by him without fear and he seemed to
pursue his quest in search of insects
without bothering anyone.
Nov take that ella monster, said
Mr.. Davis; they say that he, too, will
have commercial value if certain ex-
periments which are being carried ON
with his saliva show that certain re-
suits may be obtained. It is said that