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

x 40 PAULO, Brazil, Oct. 81 took
40 horsepower automobile this
- morning and rode out over the red
clay roads Of san Paulo to visit Butan-
tan and its city Of snakes. Yes, a city
of snakes, a live flesh-and-blood city
whose only inhabitants are venomous
reptiles- It is a city built for the
snakes and for those only that have
bags of deadly poison under Jnelr
tongues It is city surrounded by
thick walls of concrete and FENCES OF
iron. and about which inside the walls
runs a deep moat Of fresh flowing
spring water, in which the clJlzehs
swim back and forth at their pleasure
It is city Of snakehOuses, each MADE
in the shape Of a dome, and divided
up into rooms. 1t is city where every
snake lives on the ground floor ana
has his own door to go In II IS salu
that every snake knows It's own nome
and viii fight for his rights ana 10
keep intruders out
white concrete and its green lawns
surrounding the dwellings The snakes
plavon the lawns and crawl through
the streets. and they live here at
their pleasure, enjoying the rays OF the
semi-tropical sun, fed and cared LOT Dy
human beings, who now and then enter
the city. their hands covered Win
gloves and their feet clad n thick
One Of Three Queer Cities
But this city Of poisonous snakes Is
only one of the features OF the great
anti-veuom. therapeutic INSTITUTION o.
this state Of Sac Paulo- Anorner IS the
snake city. occupied by non-Yenomous
renffles which are kept here for re
search and study A third IS tIS
stables filled with young horses whose
blood has been so loaded with snake
poison that it can be made into serum
- int the veins OF
a human being who has been snake
bitten. acts as an antidOte which saves
the life OF the victim Each OF Inese
horses has its injection day aIt5r uaS
and week after week, until 1t is loaded
Otbe~ features are the laboratories
where the serum is treated. and the
whole makes UP an institution when
has become famous throughout me
world. II has been in existence IoF q
number Of years. It has farm when
covers $50 acres. and il has Just com
pleted new buildings and their equip
nent at a cost Of 100000
Is Called aSnake Farm
This institution is sometimes calleu
the snake farm OF Butanlan, -
ri-bt name is 20 Institute Serum
TberaDico." and it is one Of the estao-
lfshments Of the state OF sac FauIo ~
benefitinE and taking care OF It's PEI
he The institution makes not Only
sss-77-,s which are antidotes for the va
rious kinds Of snake bites, but those
for diphtheria, lockJaw. ouOOliio
nIarue and even Of tuberculosis
If is one Of the three great places IN
the world where this work IS done, an
otber being situated in India ana q
+bfrd in japan. A fourth, devoted 10
~ Investigation Of snake bite, Is con-
nected with the ROckeIeller lIlsli -
~ the United States. but so lar lna'
has been doing experimental ana re
search work only. and it has not gwen
+be results Of its operations 10 the
people at large
The institute At Butantan mas Deen
u o-,ara4ion for a dozen odd years, ana
n has saved hundreds, and IllSht
ssv thousands of lives. 1t has Sent
out more than $4,000 tu2es o. -
serum for snakes. and WITHIN the pa
seen Years only. it has handled more
man "a. 600 # such snakes, eXtractlns
fbc -,o7sou from their glands and put
+f-e- II in the veins Of the horses
TO-DAY il has hundreds o. Tenomous
rentiles the bite OF any OF Wnlch II
s11re death. Its snakes come from an
nsrts OF Brazil, but mostly from ms
state of Sac Paulo- They are sent III
- ~ farrners. each man receiving a
tube Of the serum Tor every sL lai1S -
sends in. Tubes are also given OUT 10
others who need them. and they are
81 distributed that they may be at
band in case one is bitten Accorolns
10 the statistics up to within rev
years 90 persons annually oleQ from
80 ri+es Of two kinds Of snakes in TINS
state alone. The institution mas --l-'57es 9
e--eciaTty Of antidOtes for these SNAKES,
- a1s0 OF a special serum to be USED
77-T,er7 the kind Of snake is not known
Us shown the institution by the