El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-10-02

same time.
Poison cannot BE Exported Effectively.
1t is on account OF the tact that the
poison must come from the same ram
Ily that serum prepared IN other
countries would be no good IN ours Eacn
country neeQs IL own institution and
10 make the serum from It's own SNAKES
or Of those Of other countries when
are OF about the same nature OF
this reason the venom OF Aslatlc snakes
which Will cOunteract the Dltes o. LII
ropean vipers is useless against the
biIes Of the BothrOps or Crotalus OF
Brazil For the same reason the serum
from q snake poison would be OF no
use against scorpion pOlsoA u
against the venom OF a SPIDER Ii
Brazil Is now experimenting with scor-
mons. but they have so nttle poison
that II takes a vast number 10 4uf-
nish the Uoses necessary 10 lnOcuis.te
the horses and IL Is difficult 10 get
enough serum
Dr. Brazil says that it is mistake
TO think that snakes are vicious or
vindictive, or that they Will attack
people Of their own accord On the
other hand, they are Jimid and VIII run
away II possible. They only attack one
I'M SELF defence IN TINS connection
during my stay 1 saw one OF the
guards lifting raIuers and Other ven
omOus snakes about IN the snake CITY
lie carried them on an IRON nook heLe
with the hook, without Jnelr cO4-ins "a
attempting 10 strike him
Dr. Brazil says that the poison OF
the snake in the glands accumulates
very slowly IL takes the reptile a0Oul
Is days TO store enough TO 40 uaInaSe'
and the longer after that he can De
kept without biting the more poison
there is in his glanus- For TINS season
the bite of a snake IS lar more NelO-
mons at some times than at at others
nh 10 q n
means OF getting his food de couI1
not kill his prey without them ana
therefore he has to wait at least m
teen days from one meal TO the otner-
He can, if necessary, remain year
OnIv Non-PoisOnOus Lay EGGS
In looking at the snakes l was SHOWN
some Of their eggs and as we loOhcu
the doctor said that II was only the
uon-poisonous snakes that laid eggs
The poisonous snakes breed their
vouna- inside them 1 saw also the IoOI
OF a man which was sloughed OF from
a snake bite. In this case Inere "dS
NOT enough poison TO kill it. but IL 50
affected the loot that II dropped OH az
the end Of week Ene man brought
the foot in his pocket 10 the hospital
/ asked the doctor how the serum
was injected and he replied that II was
put. under the skin as near the pie
as possible and as soon after the olte
g. s
j. hours following the bite, as tneLe
are certain snakes IN Brazil whose Dlte
kills in p hours or less me ser I'm
us furnished to the puDnc IN seaLSS
tubes and it will keep as long as lne
tubes are unopened After that II must
he 1sed at once. a minimum price IS
charged to those who can a1Iora 70
pay, but il is sent free to the hospitals
and 10 the very poor
The director often gives lectures al
aHrrr inc HFa
10 take care Of themselves in regard
10 snake bites. IN these talks ne
demonstrates the danger Of going bare
footed by having man come III VIZ.
a piece Of rawhide wrapped afouuu
his leg and allowing poisonous sIlaAs
10 bite into this. The man is not hurL-
The doctor tells me that out IN the
country IS percent Of the people go
bsrefooted and that the most OF the
snake bites come from their slepplnS
on the snakes with their bare 1eel-
Famous Harmless snake
later on we went into the laboratory
and 7 was shown the famous harmless
snake. known as the mussu me,
which not only does not bite man, oul
which lives upon and swallows up an
the poisonous snakes il can get hold
Of This snake the doctor took from
one Of the cages in the wall OF the
laboratory. 1t was Of steel-olue
color, the scales being beautlIuIly
vital Brazil wound IL around his arms
and then handed it TO me I held the
suuirming snake in my hands. Whlle IL
darted out its tongue in every olrec-
ton II was as cold as ice, and 1elt
moist
Kills Poisonous Snakes
then asked If IL was posslo4e 70
see this snake in the act OF destroying
some Of the terrible reptiles Tor when
Brazil is noted. whereupon the doctor
consented to give me an eNhloluon-
We carried the mussurama with US
into the lecture room and laid it upon
the large table 4 few moments later
an attendant brought in a 1araraca'
whose bite is deadly poisonous 20 man
This was a grayish snake, and only
mussurama. It was laid down not Tar
from the latter.
Battle Between Reptiles
For a moment the two snakes seemed
to take no notice Of each other Inen
all nj once the mussurama maze jump
and grabbed the jararaca by the hech
lust back Of the head. At the same
time the terrible jararaca darted us
fanzs into the body OF its enemy ana
spat forth its poison The mussuranla'
however, is poison proof II kept us
grin on the throat OF the Jararaca'
holding il as in a vice, and twisting u
slowly from one side TO the other II
kept its hold and then slowly began
to wind its coils about the body OF the
poisonous snake. It twisted itself
around and around until it held the
body Of the jararaca as in wise II
then elevated its head and began 10
pull and twist until II had pulled apart
the bones of the cervical vertebrae ana
the snake was practically dead.
It did not seem dead, however It's
coils kept twisting and going through
commissions. and this continued after
the good snake the mussurama, mad
taken the head Of the dying snake in
its mouth and had begun to swallow II.
The head soon disappeared, and then.
inch by inch. the body moved slowly
into the mouth and belly of the mus
surama It twisted its head this way
and that as it dragged the snake IN,
the latter keeping up its coiling and
twisting
This went on for fully ten minutes
before the jararaca had disappeared
The latter was, I judge. more than
four. feet in length, and it went in a
quarter Of an inch at a bite, writing
and turning with the skin unbroken
until all was in but the tail This
still wiggled as the mussurama gave
a final suck and a gulp, after which II
again darted out its tongue as though
to ask for more I could see no per
ceptfbIe difference in the size Of the
rrood snake after il had swallowed the