The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1905-07-06
SOLICITING snake VENOM
A Regular Industry In Australia
and Asia.
MOST DANGEROUS WORK
This Poison Commands Most Fabulous
Price, Worlds Annual Production
Less Than one Pound 49, Demand
for it is Steadily Growing and Value
Increases CORRESPONDENCE


.nown to the scientific world but the
Iurpose for which it is required has
lot been made public. Hitherto the
upply has been obtained chiefly from
Isia, but it has always been more or
ess uncertain in quantity and char
cter. Recently, however, Australia
as appeared as a competitor in the
iarket, but to what extent cannot be
eadily ascertained. for snake venom,
Ike radium, is measured by grains
nd commands an almost fabulous
rice, somewhere between f., 800 and
5000 per pound 1t is doubtful wheth-
the worlds annual production
caches that quantity but a value Of
rom 20s. to 25s. per grain will am
lly repay the collector Possibly with
urther developments in medical sci
nee the demand will increase and
sad to a corresponding rise in price,
he supply necessarily remaining linn
ed.
The headquarters of the Australian
apply are situated in Sydney, where
he industry became established by a
kilful naturalist, whose name, al
hough unfamiliar to the general pub
&c, is one well known in scientific cir
los. He obtains the venom from
)ur varieties of snake-the death
oder. the brown adder the black
oder and the tiger, or brown banded
oder. Each of these has to be caught
nfnjured, task demanding consid-
rable knowledge of the ways of
make life and no little skill in the
ytork of capture. Snakes are plentiful
the wilder parts of the Common
eealth and constitute one of the dam
2ers Of bush travelling. They are less
reQuently met with in the vicinity of
.lrgely populated places, but a saucer
{ milk will sometimes reveal their
reviously unsuspected existence Oc-
Asionally bush fire will send num-
ers Of them a-wagging with Won
erful rapidity in all directions, when
aey become more dangerous than
YER to meet. The tiger snake is the
iost useful to the poison collector,
1t not only carries the largest
mount Of venom, but this, when ex-
racted, is equal in killing power to
lat of the cobra. 1t is one of the
sast common of Australian snakes,
nd its deadly character is so widely
nown that when bitten by one a col
ietor has no hesitation in chopping
n the injured limb, death being the
Bly alternative.
The manner in which the snake
olson or serum Is obtained possesses
averal features of interest. One
lethod both delicate and dangerous.
p to extract in perfect form the
snomous bag, tying the valve tightly,
. as to prevent the escape of the
olson. 1t is then placed in preserv-
lg fluid for export. Another method,
Dat invented by the collector, is sim
70 and effective. 1t consists of
apBil a ANo 1ltlNl ny Il IdIlult IN
le hand. In this a broad band of
tdia rubber passes across glass
ate, small space separating the
so. The apparatus is placed opposite
se head of the snake, the neck being
cid firmly by the other hand of the
perator. On the reptile opening its
tws the end Of the apparatus is in
,rted, when the snake Immediately
&es its poison fangs in the india rub
or, leaving the marks of a couple of
ny dots where they penetrate the
raterial. The poison discharged into
te india rubber band sinks on the
lass plate below, where it is care
ally collected. When the snake re-
foves its fangs from the apparatus it
placed in a cage, and the glass
late replaced by another, in readi-
ass for the next snake
The snakes are caught by men who
ave become exceedingly expert in
ae work, the chief supply being OBJ
aimed from portions of the coast
outh of Sydney, and who claim that
7entiful doses of undiluted whisky
.0nstitute an infallible cure for snake
ate. The price of a snake ranges
rom a couple of shillings upward,
some bringing as much as seven or
sight shillings, and there are places
a Sydney where students of natural
history can obtain almost any kind
'equired. The general method of
iatching a snake is by pressing a bat
en- some five feet in length and four
W five inches in width, down on the
eek, until hold of the back of the
aead can be obtained with the fin
sers. If a forked stick be employed
here is a risk of the snake breaking
rs poison fangs while biting the
rood. or course great care has to be
sNercised in handling the venom, but
40 to the present no accident has ever
been reported.