The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-10-05
A CITY OF SNAKES
Frank G. Carpenter Visits The Garden Of Serpents
at Butantan, Brazil
at Butantan, Brazil

RcDtilcS-HOW Snakes Are Caugnt
and Used to Make oxin
-Thc Rather of Brazil Versus That
Of Our Country-A Good Snake
Which EatS Its Brothers
-Th Fight of the Mussurama and
the Jararaca, and How the Former
Swallowed the Latter-A Visit to
the Snake Cities and a Talk with
the Director, Dr.. Vital Brazil. |
Copyright, 1915, by Frank G.. Car
penter.) |
SAC PAULO, Brazil.
I took a forty horsepower automo-
bile this morning and rode out over
the red clay roads Of a Paulo to
visit Butantan and it's city OF snakes
Yes. a city of snakes! a live
blood city. whose only inhabitants are
yenomous reptiles! 1t Is a city built
for the snakes, and for those only that
have bags of deadly poison under
their tongues. 1t is a city surround
ed by thick walls Of concrete n
fences of iron, and about which inside
the walls runs q deep mOat OF freSn
flowing spring water, in which the
citizens swim back n forth at tnelr
pleasure. 1t is a city OF snake-houses
each made in the shape Of q don't
anu ulNlutu up INV AOOA
city where every snake lives on the
ground door and has his own door to
go in. 1t Is said Ia every snake
knows it's own home and will hght
for his rights and to keep lntruderS
out. =.
white concrete and its green lawns
surrounding the dwellings. The
snakes play on the lawns and crawl
through the streets. and they live here
at their pleasure, enjoying the rays OF
the semi-tropical sum-. fed and cared
for by human beings who now and
then enter the city, their hands COW
cred with gloves and their feet clad in
thick boots that reach to the knees.
But this city Of poisonous snakes is
only one of the features of the great
anti-venom, therapeutic institution or
this state Of Sac Paulo. Another is
The snake city, occupied by non-ven-
omous reptiles, which are kept here
for research and study. A third is the
stables filled with young horses, whose
blood has been so loaded with snake
poison hat it can be made into q Sc
rum which, when injected into the
veins Of a human being who has been
snakebitten, acts as an antidote which
saves the life of the victim. Each OF
these horses has its injection day after
day and week after week, until it is
loaded with poison. Other features
are the laboratories where the serum
is treated, and the whole makes up an
institution which has become famous
throughout the world. 1t has been in
existence for a number of years. II
has a farm which covers $50 acres
and it has just completed new build
ings and their equipment at a cost o
$3.50 900.
This institution is sometimes called
the snake farm of Butantan. Its RICH
name is 20 Institute Serum Thera
pico," and it is one of the establish
ments of the state of San PaulO 70
benehting and taking care of it's PEG
pie. The institution makes not Onl.
serums which are antidotes for tn
various kinds of snake bites, but thos
for d~iphtheria, lockjaw, bubOni
plague and even Of tuberculosis. 1t j
one Of the three great places in tn
world where this work is done, anoth
er being situated in India, and a thir
in Japan. A fourth, devoted to tn
Investigation OF snake bite, is connect
ed with the Rockefeller Institute c
the United States, but so far hat ha
been doing experimental and reSearc
work only. and it has not given tn
results of its operations to the peopl
at large.
The institute at Butantan has bee
in operation for a doZen-Odd year
and it has saved hundreds, and
might say thousands of lives. 1t he
sent out more than 5000 tubes of tt
serum for snakes, and within the pa
seven years only, it has handled MOI
than 1900 of such snakes, extractir
the poison from their glands and pu
ting it in the veins of the horses.
Today it has hundreds of venomo,
reptiles, the bite Of any of which
sure death. It's snakes come from {
parts of Brazil, but mostly from tn
state of Sac Paulo. They are sent
by the farmers, each nan receiving
tube Of the serum for every snake
sends in. Tubes are also given out
others who need them, and they a
SO distributed that they may be
hand in case one is bitten. Accord
to the statistics up to within a f,
years, 240 persons annually died fro
the bites of two kinds of snakes in Il