the unpleasant consequences which might attend his death; but, on mentioning this intention to the patient, he preferred being conveyed to a friend of his, who was living at the tower called Shahburj, where he himself had previously resided; which was accordingly done. I gave him some remedies, and sent him away; but scarcely was he removed from the stable, when the payahs (armed attendants of the durbar) appeared, summoning me to present myself with the faqueer to the durbar. I stated, that he had already received the reward of his insolence, and was not expected to recover; but Sheer Sing, who was probably much annoyed at the epithet, "son of a laundress," despatched several messengers, ordering me to bring him to the durbar on his bed; and I was obliged to obey. I arrived, however, too late, for the assembly had already left the durbar, and Sheer Sing had departed from the hazooreebagh to the interior of the fortress. On the same day, the faqueer had a swelling on his knee, and diarrhœa; but he soon recovered, and afterwards proved very useful to me, when I began to make my experiments with the serpents, which produced so many curious results, that I sacrificed upwards of two hundred fowls in less than six months. At that time poultry was remarkably cheap at Lahore, the English not having yet occupied that country, and four couple could be purchased for one rupee. The faqueer really possessed the secret of preventing his blood being affected by the bites of venomous reptiles; and, having at length succeeded in obtaining his statement of it, I now present it to the public. The faqueer was an arsenic-eater, and to this reason he ascribed the cause of his remaining unaffected by any serpent's venom. Perhaps he was right, because in India arsenic is an ingredient in various compositions which are recommended as remedies against the bite of serpents. He told me, that during his stay under my control, he could not procure the poison, and that that was the reason why the viper's bite affected him, which might possibly have been the case.

On my journey from Cabul to Bokhara, I met with an Affghan physician and horse-dealer, travelling from Bokhara, who, it was stated, consumed every day one drachm of arsenic, in order to

maintain his appetite, which he lost in the absence of that remedy, and that he had been in the habit of using it since his earliest childhood. He was a thick-set, muscular man, of good intelligence, merry humoured, had a light complexion, and long black hair. The proverb proved true with him ::

"Quod cibus est aliis, aliis est acre venenum.'

"One man's meat may be another's poison."

In my numerous collection of serpents, I had only three venomous species, namely:-1. The annulated serpent (Aspidoclonion); 2. The cobra di capello (Aspis Naja); 3. Vipers, of different colours and sizes. The first (Aspidoclonion) is reputed to be the most venomous. Its poison affects the throat immediately, whence the Indian name, sungchure (neck-strangler). It is stated that its bite will kill the strongest man in one hour, and that no antidote is yet known. The length of this serpent is about a yard and a half, and it is an inch and a half in diameter. Its back is of a dark-grey colour, the belly white, the head not bigger round than the body, the tail long and pointed. One span below the head, cross-stripes of a white colour commence, similar to rings, each one inch distant from the other, which run down to the end of the tail. It is stated that they live for five hundred years. They cannot easily be excited, and consequently they seldom bite. The man who brought me such a reptile, took it up with a linen rag tied round his hand, opened its mouth with a small stick, introduced the neck of a live fowl, and set them both at liberty. The serpent held the bird for a few seconds, and then released it. The poor animal seemed to be stunned; it did not appear to suffer any pain, but was unable to move, shut its eyes, and sat down. I lifted it up, and examined the bitten part on the neck. It was scarcely to be detected, and looked like the wound from a pin. After the application of some local and interior remedies, it seemed to recover a little; opening its eyes, erecting itself on its legs, and having two watery evacuations of a dark-green colour. A quarter of an hour after the bite, it sat down again, and died. All this lasted

about twenty-four minutes. Should not the endermatic application of this virus be the real and true remedy against the hydrophobia? as this poison affects the neck, as well as that of enraged animals. "Extremis morbis, extrema remedia!" It deserves to be tried, if not on man, at least on animals. But many will ask, how can we procure those serpents? to which I reply, that as soon as the efficacy of this substance is proved in a satisfactory manner, it can easily be procured in sufficient quantities from the natives. The reptile can be preserved in Europe as easily as others, especially as its term of life is stated to be of such a long duration. Having found in the slough or cast skin of serpents manifold medicinal virtues, when employed in the way I use them in my system, it is possible that they would also produce a good effect endermatically (introducing them in a prepared state), acting as a substitute for the virus. That is also the case with inoculation; in want of the lymph, the crust dissolved in water, will answer the same purpose. The cobra di capello is less venomous than the annulated serpent, though its venom is stronger than that of the viper. The joghees in Hindostan earn their livelihood by exhibiting the cobra to the public. They carry them in boxes, and when the box is opened, they begin to play on a sort of bagpipe; on hearing which, the serpent erects itself, its neck swells, and it moves its head alternately to the right and left, keeping time to the music as if it were dancing, which affords much amusement to the spectators, and sometimes terror to those who do not know that their venomous fangs have been extracted. The bite of the cobra can, as well as that of the vipers, be cured, for which purpose spirit of sal ammoniac, hartshorn drops, or Eau de Luce, are excellent medicaments; but being seldom at hand when they are wanted, I advise, in all cases of bites from venomous animals, that the poison should be at once vigorously sucked from the wound, which will not be productive of any prejudicial effect on the healthy mouth or the stomach. It is also advisable immediately to bind a ligature under the wound, until the venom is sucked entirely out. Even if the animal

poison is swallowed in considerable quantity, it is quite harmless, as it becomes decomposed by the chyle. The poultry which I killed in the experiments I made, my cook, who was a Mahomedan, would certainly have prepared for the table with great repugnance, owing to their not having been Halal, i.e. killed in the name of God, by letting their blood flow, but had perished whilst the blood was in them; my sweeping man, however, a Bangee of the Pariah caste, eat them with avidity, and grew corpulent upon the fare.

The following case may prove that all large serpents are not aangerous, but on the contrary, sometimes even useful. One day my domestics caught a large one in the surdekhana or teikhana (cellar), which they had killed and thrown it into the street. When I observed its extended stomach, I was desirous of knowing the contents, and having caused it to be opened, we found a rat, which had been swallowed by the serpent whole, and my domestics regretted having destroyed such a brave ratcatcher.

Speaking of serpents, I may mention here a particular disease, which they designate at Lahore, Mar-ashekh (serpent-love), and which, according to their statement, occurs only in the Punjab. I never heard of it in any other place; and I mention it, hoping that the English physicians, particularly those now living in that country, will take the trouble to investigate the subject, and ascertain whether this disease is peculiar to the Punjab, and why it occurs only between the Indus and the Sutlej.

Should the investigation of this curious disease lead to a satisfactory result, and should any one be successful in capturing a real musk-deer in the Punjab, I should be much gratified, and science would be enriched.

The faqueer Noor-oo-Deen, at Lahore, who at present enjoys great respect from the English, for his extended knowledge and eminent merits, was the first who directed my attention to the disease I have mentioned, a short time before my first departure from Lahore in the year 1832, and who introduced to me at that time a patient afflicted with it. It was a laundry man, of the