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Page 22
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 Taylor[7] 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.
[Footnote 7: _Vide_ report to Prof. J. Henry Bennett.]
[Footnote 8: London _Times_.]
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.
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