Year: 1875

A story is going round the daily press,
| to the effect that a man once spit into
| rattlesnake's mouth, and the snake died;
| he did the same thing to an adder, and it


died also. Another adder would not


open its mouth, so he spit on a stick,


rubbed the spittle on the adder's nose,


and it died. A non-poisonous black snake


was treated in the same way, but it did


not die; and the conclusion is drawn


that human saliva is as poisonous for


poisonous snakes as the poison of snakes


is for man.


In order to realize the improbability of


this story, we will state that the poison
of snakes is not their saliva, but a special
! fluid secreted in bag situated near the
root of the poisonous fang, which is pro-
vided with a channel to conduct the
poison from the bag to near the point, so
that it may be injected into the wound


Many poisons, dangerous if given by
injection, are harmless in the stomach,
where, by the digestive powers of the
gastric and other juices, they are decom-
posed and made harmless. So the vac
cine virus, which by incubation pro-
duces the well known ulcer, is perfectly
harmless when swallowed; and several
other organic poisons, especially of the
septic kind, of animal origin, are only
dangerous when entering the system by
wound, and may with impunity be
taken into the mouth and stomach. An
excoriation or scratch on the lips or
tongue, by which they may enter the cir
culation, is dangerous, as has been prov
ed by many examples. Hence the dan
ger of wounds during dissection by med
ical students, by which the decomposed
animal matter of the subject enters the
circulation, and kills the poor victim
rapidly; while students with an unim-
paired skin on their hands may dissect
any subject with impunity. A case is on
record of a young lady who kissed the
dead body of her father. She had little
excoriation on her lip, which was touch
ed by the moisture on the lips of the
corpse; it soon inflamed with all the
characteristics of a virulent dissection
wound, and in few days she was
corpse also. The poison had entered
into the circulation of her blood.


Experiments in this line are of course
highly Objectionable; but as far as expe-
rience has shown, most poisons of this
kind may with impunity be taken in the
stomach If the saliva of man or ami
mails has any dangerous qualities, it is
mostly only manifest when entering the
circulation of the bitten individual, and
especially when the saliva has been
changed in its nature by the excitement
OF passions, Sucn as great Ieari anger, etc.
Hence arises the often malignant appear
ance of bites by infuriated men or ami
mails; while the Introduction of such
saliva into the stomach would undoubt-
edly, in most cases, not be attended with
serious consequences. This shows the
ahsurdity of the idea that the normal
human saliva should be poison in the
mouth of any animal, whether possessing
poison bags connected with its teeth or
not.


The story reminds US of one which
went round the papers some years ago.
about man who was bitten by rattle
snake through his boot. Long after his
death, every one who tried on that boot
died of the consequence of a scratch in
the loot, produced by serpent's tooth
projecting inside the boot; and the cause
of the mischief was only discovered when
many persons had been allied. The in
ventor of this story did not know that
tho rattles make poison is only active
when freshly injected from the poison
bag-Seisntifc american.