the year, and, also, the part wounded. The
subtle fluid mixes with the blood, and is
conveyed with the rapidity of the circulation to the
brain, upon which its specific properties operate.
It is a direct palsier of nervous action. No
sooner does it begin to operate than the inlets
of the senses begin to close upon the outer
world; the eyes are dimmed, the ears stopped,
the tongue falters; the torpid brain then
reacts upon the heart, whose firm pulsations
are reduced to feeble flutterings; the breath
gets scantier, the limbs grow cold, and
death supervenes, it may be in ten minutes,
in half an hour, in an hour—as in the case of
the recent accident—or at a later period; the
chances of recovery being in the ratio of the
slowness of the operation of the poison.

What is this strange and subtle fluid, one
drop or less than a drop of which can quell
the force of the active brain and nervous
system of a man? To sight, smell, and taste,
it seems a mere harmless saliva. Chemical
analysis detects in it a little mucus, much
water, and some of the salts of saliva; from
which it differs, mainly, in the slight predominance
of an animal acid. There is nothing in
all this that could suggest, beforehand, the
specific properties of the secretion. It is not
poisonous when taken into the stomach. The
readiest and perhaps the most efficient remedy,
that of sucking the wound, may be performed
with scarcely any risk. This has been known
of old. "Whoever," writes Celsus, "will suck
the wound, will be both safe himself and save
the sufferer." The only danger in swallowing
the venom of the viper, cobra, or rattle-snake,
arises from the possibility of some blister or
scar, or any lesion of the scarf-skin of the
mouth, throat,or gullet, which might allow the
poison to enter the circulating blood.

The nervous system of a poison-snake is
proof against the specific action of its own
poison, but not against that of another species.
Dr. Patrick Russell, in his History of Indian
Serpents, affirms that cobras bite each other
without fatal consequences, but kill other
snakes. The larger and more formidable
hamadryas of India prey upon other serpents;
killing them by their envenomed bite, and
then swallowing them. The naja, of Africa,
in like manner kills and gorges the puff-adder;
and the rattle-snake will strike and slay the
poisonous moccasin snake, and afterwards
seize and swallow it.

As to remedies; when our own species has
been the subject of attack, the first indication
is to remove the inoculated venom, either by
suction or excision; but this, to be effective,
must be done promptly, almost instantly,
after the bite. Olive oil should be freely
applied to the wound; and the same taken
inwardly with ammonia, in as great quantity
as the constitution will bear. If hartshorn be
not at hand, and "eau de luce" is, the latter
forms a good substitute. Certain plants have
been vaunted as specifics, as e.g., the
Aristolochia serpentaria and Hieraceum venosum
against the poison of the rattle-snake, and the
Libama Cedron against that of the cobra;
but their merits have not been established by
due and successful trial. It appears that the
unfortunate victim of the bite of the cobra
had some of the Libama Cedron in his
possession, but it was not used.

To revert to the melancholy occurrence
which has led us to pen the present article.
Perhaps the most grievous features of the
case are those revealed at the searching
and exact inquiry into all the particulars
of it, which led to the verdict of the Coroner's
Inquest, recorded in the Times of
Saturday, October twenty-third, and cited at
the end of this paper. It appears that this
accident—as such occurrences are termed—by
which an apparently steady man, who had
previously performed his duties in the main
satisfactorily, has been hurried to an untimely
grave, leaving, at the age of thirty, a widow
and young family bereaved of their natural
protector and provider—is one of the countless
calamities befalling the weekly-wage classes
plainly referable to intoxication. Gurling
had left his home, in company with another
keeper, on the evening before the accident,
and, as his poor widow deposed, "She never
saw him afterwards alive." According to
the evidence of his companion, they had
spent the night at a leave-taking party of a
friend going to Australia. On returning to
their duties at the Zoological Gardens, "they
had a quartern of gin at the public-house in
Shoe Lane, another afterwards, and again
another at eight o'clock." The gin-laden blood
circulated through the brain; and reason,
prudence, the plainest sense of imminent
hazard, were overpowered. The exhibition,
during the previous year, of the Egyptian
snake-charmers, who acted their parts with
cobras deprived of their poison fangs, had
left a vivid impression on the man's mind;
this impression came uppermost when he
entered on the scene of his daily duties, and
he must needs try to emulate the Egyptians.
A newly arrived Morocco poison-snake was
first selected. It was taken out of its cage,
was grasped by its middle, flourished aloft,
and thrown like a lasso round the neck of
the younger performer; fortunately for him
it was not roused to bite. An assistant-
keeper, who happened to enter the room at
this juncture, begged Gurling, "for God's
sake, to put back the snake." The infatuated
man replied, "I am inspired," and
laughed at the warning!

Having replaced the Morocco venom-snake
in its cage, Gurling then cried, "Now for the
cobra!" and, lifting up the glass front of the
cage, removed it as he had done the other.
The cobra was somewhat torpid from the cold
of the preceding night, and the man placed
it in his bosom; it there revived and glided
downward round his waist, its head emerging
from beneath the back part of his waistcoat.
The man grasped the cobra by the body