It is an indisputable fact, however, that there are individuals whose natural or acquired idiosyncrasies permit them to be inoculated by the most venomous of reptiles without deleterious or unpleasant results, and Colonel Matthews Taylor7 knew several persons of this character in India, and who regarded the bite of the cobra or tic paloonga with nearly as much indifference as the sting of a gnat or mosquito. Again, in 1868, Mr. Drummond, a prominent magistrate of Melbourne, Australia,8 met with untimely death under circumstances that attracted no little attention. An itinerant vender of nostrums had on exhibition a number of venomous reptiles, by which he caused himself to be successively bitten, professing to secure immunity by reason of a secret compound which he offered for sale at a round figure. Convinced that the fellow was an imposter, and his wares valuable only as a means of depleting the pockets of the credulous, Mr. Drummond loudly asserted the inefficacy of the nostrum, as well as the innocuousness of the reptiles, which he assumed to be either naturally harmless, or rendered so by being deprived of their fangs; and in proof thereof insisted upon being himself bitten.

To this experiment the charlatan was extremely averse, offering strenuous objections, and finally conveyed a point blank refusal. But Mr. Drummond's demands becoming more imperative, and observing that his hesitancy impressed the audience as a tacit acknowledgment of the allegations, he finally consented, and placed in the hands of the magistrate a tiger snake, which he deemed least dangerous, and which instantly struck the gentleman in the wrist. The usual symptoms of serpent poisoning rapidly manifested themselves, followed by swelling and lividity of the part, obstructed circulation and respiration, and coma; and in spite of the use of the vaunted remedy and the attentions of physicians the result was most fatal. The vender subsequently conceded the worthless character of his nostrum, declaring that be enjoyed exemption from the effects of of serpent poison by virtue of recovery from a severe inoculation in early life; and he further added he knew "some people who were born so," who put him "up to this dodge" as a means of gaining a livelihood.

It is a general supposition that such immunity, when congenital, is acquired in utero by the inoculation of the parent, and Oliver Wendell Holmes' fascinating tale of "Elsie Venner" embodies many interesting features in this connection. Admitting such inoculation may secure immunity, recent experiments in the action of this as well as kindred poisons give no grounds for believing it at all universal or even common, but as depending upon occult physiological or accidental phenomena. For instance, the writer and his father are equally proof against the contagion and inoculation of vaccination and variola, in spite of repeated attempts to secure both, while their respective mothers suffered terribly with smallpox at periods subsequent to the birth of their children; and it is well understood that there are striking analogies between the poisons of certain contagious fevers and those of venomous serpents, inasmuch as one attack conveys exemption from future ones of like character. In other words, many animal poisons, as well as the pathological ones of smallpox, measles, scarlatina, whooping cough, etc., have the power of so modifying the animal economy, when it does not succumb to their primary influence, as to ever after render it all but proof against them.

Witness, for instance, the ravages of the mosquito, that in certain districts punishes most terribly all new comers, and who after a brief residence suffer little, the bite no longer producing pain or swelling.

Regarding the supposed correlation of serpent poison and the septic ferments of certain tropical and infectious fevers, they are not necessarily always contagious. It may be interesting to note that one Doctor Humboldt in 1852,9 in an essay read before the Royal Academy of Medical Sciences at Havana, assumed their proximate identity, and advocated the inoculation of the poison of one as a prophylactic of the other. He claimed to have personally inoculated numberless persons in New Orleans, Vera Cruz, and Cuba with exceedingly dilute venom, thereby securing them perfect immunity from yellow fever. Aside from the extraordinary nature of the statement, the fact that the doctor affirmed, he had never used the virus to an extent sufficient to produce any of its toxic symptoms, cast discredit over the whole, and proofs were demanded and promised. This was the last of the subject, however, which soon passed into oblivion, though whether from failure on the part of the medico to substantiate his assertions, or from the inanition of his colleagues, it is difficult to determine, though the presumption is largely in favor of the former.

Nevertheless, it is worthy of consideration and exhaustive experimentation, since it is no less plausible than the theory which rendered the name of Jenner famous.

Outside of the transfusion of blood, for which there are strong reasons for believing would be attended with happy results, the sole remedies available in serpent poisoning are measures looking to the prompt cutting off of the circulation of the affected part, and the direct stimulation of the heart's action and the respiratory organs, until such a time as Nature shall have eliminated all toxical evidences; and these must necessarily be mechanical. Alcoholic stimulants are available only as they act mechanically in sustaining cardiac and pulmonary activity, and where their free use is prolonged efficacy is quickly exhausted, and they tend rather to hasten a fatal result. They are devoid of the slightest antidotal properties, and in no way modify the activity of the venom; and an intoxicated person, so far from enjoying the immunity with which he is popularly credited, is far more apt to succumb to the virus than him of unfuddled intellect. The reasons are obvious. Theoretically, for purely physiological and therapeutic reasons amyl nitrite should be of incalculable value, though I have no knowledge of its use in this connection, since its vapor when inhaled is a most powerful stimulator of cardiac action, and when administered by the mouth it is unapproached in its control of spasmodically contracted vessels and muscles.