Under this head, the question of poisonous snakes naturally occupies the first place. In addition to what has been said above in Chapter VI., dealing with the anatomical and physiological aspects of the subject, we have to allude to the accidents caused by these dangerous reptiles, and the measures taken to combat them.

The enormous mortality for which snake-bite is responsible in India is well known. Statistics establish the fact that an average of 20,000 human lives are thus lost annually: 24,264 is the official return for 1911. In Australia, where highly poisonous snakes of various genera and species abound, the fatal cases are likewise very numerous, though less in proportion than in South America, and no doubt also in Africa. In the small island of Martinique, the Fer-de-Lance, Lachesis lanceolatus, causes every year the death of about 100 human creatures. Though numerous in species, the poisonous snakes of Ceylon cause a comparatively small mortality—200 per annum.

Modern research has resulted in the discovery of the only effective antidote for snake-venom intoxication: the serotherapic treatment. An animal that has been treated over a length of time with the venom of a poisonous snake, such as a Cobra, yields a serum which is antitoxic towards that venom; but the great difficulty resides in the specificity of the different poisons, which often renders the use of the serum ineffective in countries like India and Australia, where several kinds of poisonous snakes occur in the same district (see above, p. 67). In India, where a special laboratory has been established for the supply of antivenine, at the Central Institute of Kasauli, it has been found impossible to obtain any venoms but those of the Cobra and Russell’s Viper in sufficient quantity to immunize animals, and thus produce the serum necessary for dealing with the bite of the King Cobra, the Krait, and the Echis Viper.

In Pondicherry the French Government places annually a sum of 200 rupees at the disposal of the director of the hospital for obtaining Cobra poison, the snakes, to be brought alive, being paid for to the natives at the rate of half a rupee to one rupee each, according to size and condition. Six hundred and fifty-three specimens were thus purchased in less than two years (1901-1903). The poison is utilized for the preparation of Calmette’s antivenine, which, as we have said above, is only effective against cobra poison, and, unfortunately, useless for the cure of bites from other species.

In Brazil, where the number of accidents is estimated at 19,200 per annum, and that of fatal cases at 4,800, over 2,000 snakes (Lachesis and Crotalus) are brought annually to the Serotherapic Institute of Batantan, in the province of S. Paolo, for the preparation of the antitoxic serum, which is given in exchange for the snakes. According to the latest report of the Institute (1911), two serums are distributed: the anti-crotaline (for Rattlesnake bite) and the anti-bothropine (for Lachesis bite); the third, the anti-elapine (for Coral-snake bite), is in course of preparation.

In many countries a premium has for years been paid for the heads of poisonous snakes, and has led to the destruction of enormous numbers of them, without, however, resulting in a very appreciable diminution of the dangerous reptiles. More than £12,000 has been spent for this purpose in India alone; the numbers destroyed in 1885 and 1886 throughout British India amount to 420,044 and 417,596 respectively. About forty years ago the Governor of St. Lucia offered a reward of 4d. for every Fer-de-Lance’s head. But the negroes caught them alive and bred families of snakes for the sake of the reward, and thereby made what was for them a little fortune, these snakes bringing forth up to sixty young at a birth. The reward had to be abolished very soon.

Now about the Vipers of Europe, the only really dangerous snakes of this part of the world.

Although the Adder, Vipera berus, is quite common in many parts of England and Scotland, accidents caused by its bite are rarely heard of, and cases of death are few and far between. It is not so, however, on the Continent, where the same species, and especially its close ally, the more southern V. aspis, are responsible for many fatalities, due no doubt to the more virulent action of the venom in a warmer climate.

In the French Departments Loire-InfÉrieure and VendÉe, where these snakes are very plentiful, three or four cases of death are reported annually. From 1860 to 1868, 370 serious accidents to man have been carefully recorded, 53 ending in death, not only in the case of children, but also of adults of all ages, in 10 cases within one to twenty-four hours. In the Puy-de-DÔme cases of death are of frequent occurrence. In Germany and in Switzerland, 12 or 13 per cent. of the cases on record have ended fatally. Instances of death from the bite of the south-eastern V. ammodytes are also not infrequent. On the other hand, the bite of V. ursinii, which is but seldom inflicted, is not known to have ever resulted in death.

It must be borne in mind that accidents are much more frequent in districts where the poorer classes are in the habit of going about barefoot.

Anyhow, it is certain that Vipers are a serious danger in many parts of Europe, not only to man, but also to horses, cattle, and dogs. And it is not surprising that efforts have been made to reduce their numbers. The most efficacious means, besides the protection of certain animals and birds which feed on Vipers, appeared to be the institution of premiums to be paid for the heads of the dangerous snakes. By offering 21/2d. per head, 500,000 Vipers (V. aspis) were destroyed from 1864 to 1890 in three French departments, Haute-SaÔne, Doubs, and Jura, and in one district (Chaumont) of the Haute-Marne 57,045 were killed from 1856 to 1861; this gives an idea of the extraordinary abundance of these snakes in some parts of France. In the Puy-de-DÔme the premium was fixed for a time at 5d., and one man managed to destroy in the course of seven years 9,175 Vipers (V. berus and V. aspis). A woman in the Deux-SÈvres has made a living for many years by catching Vipers, the heads of which were paid to her at the rate of 5d. each. The average number of her captures amounted to 2,062 per annum (mostly V. aspis). Around Oesnitz in Saxony, 2,140 V. berus were killed in 1889, and 3,335 in 1890. In a single district in Southern Styria the heads of 4,197 V. berus and 7,381 V. ammodytes were sent in for the reward in the course of two years (1892, 1893).

In spite of all this effort, the institution of the bounty has not answered expectations, and, with the exception of a few districts, Vipers remain as plentiful as ever, showing what little man can do in altering the equilibrium of Nature, except by interfering with the natural conditions under which animals live. Cultivation of the ground or destruction by fire of the vegetation of the wilderness seems to be the only efficacious means of getting rid of so abundant and prolific a creature as the Viper.

A word may be said, however, in defence of Vipers: they do a great deal of good to agriculture by the destruction of small rodents, on which they feed chiefly, and whose multiplication they serve to keep in check. It must be pointed out that, with the exception of the species of Coluber and Zamenis, other European snakes are to be regarded as indirectly injurious to agriculture, feeding as they do mainly on lizards or frogs and toads, which, as insectivores, deserve to be protected.

Snakes are not of much economic value to man. Tanned skins of Boas and Pythons are utilized for making shoes and fancy articles, such as purses, pocket-books, blotters, etc., and the Siamese make the drum-heads of native drums out of the skins of Pythons and Acrochordus. To say nothing of savages, who seem to be partial to the flesh of large snakes, the peasantry in some parts of France do not disdain snakes as an article of food, the Grass-snake being occasionally served in village inns under the name of Anguilles de haies, or hedge-eels.

Viper fat has for a long time been in request as an ointment in the case of various affections, and much used by quack doctors in the preparation of their remedies. Some forty years ago a chemist in Challans (VendÉe) collected Vipers (V. aspis) for medicinal purposes, and was able to send several thousands to Paris in the course of a few years, thus realizing a considerable sum of money, but the demand has gradually fallen off since.

Very frequent in the past, snake-worship is still prevalent in many parts of India, where the Cobra is held in great veneration, and is never willingly killed by the Hindoo. In pre-Buddhist days the gods were represented with a canopy of five or seven Cobras over them. The North African Cobra was sacred to the ancient Egyptians, and is profusely represented on the monuments and tombs; it was also an emblem of the physical sun, and, as a sign of royal power, along with the sun’s disc, formed part of the headdress of all solar deities. The Greeks and Romans also worshipped snakes, and the god of medicine is represented holding a snake, which is supposed to be Coluber longissimus, the so-called “Æsculapian snake”; the occurrence at the present day of certain common Italian species (Zamenis gemonensis, Coluber longissimus, Tropidonotus tessellatus) in isolated localities of Central Europe, formerly Roman settlements, has been attributed to their importation for use in the temples.

Snake-charmers have existed from the remotest antiquity, and are still to be found among all races of men, from the accomplished Indian juggler down to the more commonplace European snake-catcher, who boasts of his immunity, and of his art of attracting snakes by devices of which he has the secret. The Libyan Psillii of the ancient Romans have handed down their art to the present day, and their performances are to be witnessed in most of the towns of Egypt and Tunisia. But India above all lands is reputed for its snake-charmers, and the favourite species used by them is the Cobra, which, by the way in which it raises the anterior part of the body and expands the region behind the head, lends itself better than any other to the display. Constantly facing the man before him, and swaying the raised anterior part of the body, it seems to dance to the music performed by the snake-man, people believing it to be charmed by the sounds of the instrument. However, anyone sitting on the ground in front of a Cobra, and swaying the body from side to side as does the man, can obtain the same result without the aid of any sort of music.

The most puzzling thing about these performances is how the man can thus play with impunity with so deadly a snake. It is a mistake to think that the snake is rendered harmless through the poison fangs having been extracted, although this subterfuge is frequently resorted to by the less accomplished jugglers. The immunity of the snake-charmer is to be explained by the fact that the man has submitted himself to a series of successive and graduated inoculations of the venom, a process similar to vaccination, which renders his blood proof against the venom of the particular species of snake, and that one only, used for his performances.

Another deadly snake shown by the snake-charmers in North Africa is the Horned Viper, Cerastes cornutus. The presence of an erect spike above the eye is, however, not a constant character in this snake, and hornless specimens are made to look more formidable by spines of the hedgehog being inserted in the proper place; the illusion is such that even naturalists have been deceived by this trick.

Indian snake-charmers profess to have a belief in the efficacy of snake-stones, or bezoar stones, as a remedy to be applied on the part bitten by a poisonous snake, a belief shared by the natives of many tropical countries. These stones, extracted from various reptiles, birds, and mammals, are calcareous concretions from the stomach or bladder, sometimes composed of superphosphate of lime, sometimes of phosphate of ammonia or magnesia. The value of a bezoar stone being supposed to increase with its size, the larger are sold in India at very high prices.

In many places a popular belief prevails that such stones are found in the heads of snakes. Mr. J. A. Bucknill, now Attorney-General at Hong-Kong, who spent five years in Cyprus, has informed the author that the Viper of the latter island, Vipera lebetina, is commonly believed to contain a stone which, when applied to the bite of a poisonous snake, quickly nullifies the effect; it is also believed that, when this stone is allowed to stand in a glass of water and the water is drunk, it endows the drinker with surprising virility. Indeed, there was an action tried by the English judge at Larnaka in which the plaintiff claimed the return, or damages for the non-return, of one of these “Viper-stones” which he had lent for a monetary consideration to the defendant for the promotion of his manly vigour, and Mr. Bucknill’s recollection is that the plaintiff recovered £10 for the loss.