POISONOUS SNAKES.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4718, 30 June 1924, Page 1

POISONOUS SNAKES.

A QUEER LABORATORY. EXTRACTING VENOM. In the interior of Brazil are all things—gold, diamonds, zebus, Indians, and Poisonous snakes (writes Arthur Mills, in the “Daily Mail). On account of these latter the Institute Botantan has been formed, it being estimated that some tdn to twelve thousand persons arc bitten every yea)'. Already the Institute in the State of Sao Paulo has reduced mortality to two per cent. The work is done this wise, Dr. 1-teis, the courteous professor explained to me, as we stood in the institute’s laboratory. “In this jar,’’ he said, “we have the dried venom of about a thousand snakes. Here,” taking up a jar of white crystal substance, “is dried rattlesnake venom. A rattlesnake’,s bite acts on the nerves, producing paralysis, blindness, and death in two days.’’ “How do you prepare the serum 1 asked. The doctor-told me that the venom, alter being extracted and dried, was mixed into a solution with chemically treated water and administered in graduated doses to horses kept specially for the purpose. Tn this way the horse,' getting only a little at a time; became immune from snake bite, and from his blood the antitoxin was prepared which was saving thousands of lives in all parts of Brazil, In some cases, where there were several kinds of snakes of the same species, as many as many as five different snakes might be used to prepare one .serum. The doctor gave the period at which the anti-tozin could be administered effectively as between three and thirty-six hours. “This is how we extract the venom from the snake,” he continued. Going to a corner he picked up a short stick with an iron crook, unfastened the latch of one of a row of small cupboards round the wall, and with a flick of the stick pulled a jararaca out on to the floor. The snake moved with some agility about the 12ft of space, till—to my relief — the doctor deftly pinioned , its head with the crook. Bending down, he caught the brute just behind, the head and, securing its tall, held it up. An attendant came forward with a glass saucer. The doctor held the snake’s head over the saucer, at the same time" the attendant placing two lingers on the opposite rim. The snake struck furiously at the fingers, but, secui'ely held by the doctor, only succeeded in biting the glass. The long, evil fangs bit on the glass and the deadlv yellow juice slowly slipped into the saucer. This juice, when dried; was destined to make the serum With a flick of his hand the doctor freed the snake, and holding it at arm’s length by the tail—for a poisonous snake, he said, could not strike its own length upwards—swung it back into its cupboard. “In each of these, cupboards,” he said, '‘we have snakes waiting to have their venom extracted,”’ He opened another little door, poked in his stick, and immediately there began the furious but unmistakable .noise of a rattlesnake on the warpath. The doctor jerked the stick and hoisted a big fellow out into the little room. Advancing, he poked the rattler with his stick. The snake struck at him like a flash of lightning, missed, and recoiled ready to strike again. The doctor walked calmly round in a circle. The rattlesnake, lying there, slowly moved its head after him, occasionally striking out svagely but always missing by a few inches. Finally we went to the outdoor home of the snakes. Here, in an inno-cent-looking grass enclosure furnished with small beehive-shaped huts, lived a .thousand, poisonous snakes, collected from all parts of Brazil, sent in for the most part by plantation owners and small farmers who, for every four live snakes supplied, received gratis a tube of life-saving serum. It was amazing to see an attendant, wearing only leggings, climb over the wall of the enclosure and walk about in the long grass, which was literally alive with the poisonous brutes. Most of the snakes slid quickly away at his approach ; only the rattlesnakes, over dangerous and ready to tight, held their ground; and round these lie stepped with some care. In connection with the study of snake-bite a rather grisly experiment was carried out some time ago. A lepper, in Rio de Janeiro, was in an advanced stage of the terrible disease. Someone had told the wretched man that the bite of a rattlesnake might cure him, through the violent contrast of the two poisons working in his blood. He asked permission to try this terrible cure. The man being at death s door in any case, permission was granted on his signing a declaration that the act was purely voluntary. The experiment was conducted in the presence of six leading doctors and scientists of Brazil. .At 11 a.mthe man and a rattlesnake in a basket were brought into the room. The man put his hand into the basket, but the rattlesnake declined to bite him. Thereupon he pinched the snake s tail and promptly got what he required. He died twelve hours later.