MORRISSEY AND HIS SNAKES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 61, 16 December 1907, Page 4

MORRISSEY AND HIS SNAKES.

lURE ANTIDOTE CLAIMED. The adventures of James Jlorrissey ud his snakes, which partly amazed ami partly diverted the public mind rwiiM#ly, were merely incidents to the man himself, who has been on whit ho cjllls "friendly terms" with snakes for th» past twenty years. Morrissey cliini that he has discovered a suru antidote for snakebite, and in the ci iirto of an interview lie gave some aeeaunt of his experiences to a Melbourne Argus reporter:— "It took me four years' solid graft," li- wid, "to discover that antidote, and 1 have proved its worth aiul attain I have given exhibitions for years pnst at Colac, Yea, and at various places in the Ballarat district. I wonn take from twelve to twenty SMkK into the ring, and throw them out. The audience appointed a committee, who picked out two of the snakes. One of these I would 'milk' of its poison, to show that the snakes were really venomous, and I would let the other one bite me. Then I would tie niv ligature (which I have patented) above the bite, scarify the part, and pour my antidote into it. I have been bitten at least forty times. At Alnine, about seven years ago, I was bitten on the hip. Of course, I could j not ibp the ligature there, but I pinched «p the part with my thumb and ingar, and held oil tight while I scarified the hip and applied the antidote. I 4* not bar any kind of snakes. In fact, I prefer a tiger-snake, because lie is more vicious, and you can always make him bite. He is easier to handle, too, and feeds better than the other kinds. You can get as much venom from a 3ft Gin tiger snake as from a 6ft 6in black snake, a 6ft copperhead, or two 6ft brown snakes. Another thing about the tiger snake is that you may have him about your body, and you can squeeze liim, and he will not bite. Of course, any of them will bite if you strike them a sudden blow. A tiger-snake will have his poison sac full again forty-eight hours after striking, and will have sufficient poison in twelve hours to kill a healthy man I had a little tiger-snake that killed a rabbit in 30see, and I reckon it takes a minute and a half for the poison to assimilate with the human blood. "The d"rtor" used to say to me: many drops of poison he has put into you. Then vjii regnlate the amount nf antidote to be injected. That is very pretty, but :f you are nut in the bush, and get bitte i, you don't stop to meaj sure any sinkf.'. You want to get to •vork right anny. If yo'.i have got a bottle of >ny antidote you don't want rny romp]i'-*i*< 'l instructions, but just use it as I have said. An hour or two's bathim in hot water to reduce I the inftanwiatorv swelling, and you nro j n« right as if you had never been bitI ten.

"How I'd ' discover it? I experimented for four years. I had half-ail-

acre of ground near Queenstown, in Tasmania, r.iid I used to got snakes rnd and blue-tongued liznds. and rake tlicm fight. Then T vatched the hsards run and eat certain kerbs after the- were bitten. I reckon T tried Made and leaf of herbage ■ oil that grai.ia before I perfected my' cnie. ! -an tel' now by the herbage'' r.' any place what snakes I will find there. Mv aitidote is composed ef two herbs, and if 1 find these gro'ving among the recks, I expect to find tigers and copper riadi, which live in -ockv ciuntry. If th; herbs grow thickly r.car the stream*. I expect to find black and browi snakes, which live aostlv iG the water. Whenever I make up a fiesh supply of antidote, I test it on animals to nakc sure it is the nght stiength befo.-e 1 sell it to the p.iMic, a« I have Seen doing for many years. '(Mi, Morrissey, you are immune from the effects of snakebite,' but I asked them, What about George Underwood? George was Htten 500 times before he 'went otit,' and then it was from snakebite. Where docs the immunity come in? Shires was another man on the same game; he was bitten about 250 tines, and then he 'went out.' 'Pegleg' Davis was rnly bitten eight times before he Jied of snakebite. Somebody 'shook' George Underwood's bottle of antidote and filled it up with cold tea, because 'hev reckoned no snake could hurt him. Well, they found out. All these m«sj /nent .out' because they didn't tike care of themselves. 1 am the fcpjrth *in a i to take it on, and I ?uppo*e.Tll },o the same way if I don't vateh it. The doctors tell me that to do the tbini scientifically you ought to know how long the snake was, and how 1 stand to fall heavily if my mixture i* not right. I suppose it would be irrnslaughtir. Anyway, it would be very serms fcr me. I never had any dread of snakes. 1 can't understand that. T reckon snakes are beautiful, graceful things, and there is nothing you ran't teach a snake to do a.' well as any other animal. The tiger-snakes are the best. They dance to music more titan any of them, though all snakes are affected by music. I ha 1 a snake which, when I tapped my loot and whistled, would go up the leg nf my trousers, come out at my shirt-collar, and drink the milk I held for it. My snakes are pets to me. When I ear.-y them in the bag I feed tn mon nilk, tut I give them hids, rats, mice and young rabbits. All their fowl nrist be alive and must lot be touched with the hands. T don't know how it is that they do not refuse milk, for most milk has been touched by human han ls, but they will all drink it. When I am on the track I think more about my snakes than myself. £ do not care if I have to go short so long as I cir get some milk for the snakes. I will be on tfte track again presently, an I will make up a fresh lot of anti 1 .t«. but I will have to test h before ! ran start selling."