al minutes, and my friend tells me I
rolled about as if very faint and weak. He also informs me that the
first thing I did was to fall against him, asking if I looked seedy. He
most wisely answered, "No, you look very well." I don't think he thought
so, for his own face was as white as a ghost; I recollect this much. He
tells me my face was of a greenish-yellow color. After walking or rather
staggering along for some minutes, I gradually recovered my senses and
steered for the nearest chemist's shop. Rushing in, I asked for eau de
luce. Of course he had none, but my eye caught the words "Spirit, ammon.
co.," or hartshorn, on a bottle. I reached it down myself, and pouring a
large quantity into a tumbler with a little water, both of which
articles I found on a soda-water stand in the shop, drank it off, though
it burnt my mouth and lips very much. Instantly I felt relief from the
pain at the chest and head. The chemist stood aghast, and on my telling
him what was the matter, recommended a warm bath. If I had then followed
his advice these words would never have been placed on record. After a
second draught at the hartshorn bottle, I proceeded on my way, feeling
very stupid and confused. On arriving at my friend's residence close by,
he kindly procured me a bottle of brandy, of which I drank four large
wine-glasses one after the other, but did not feel the least tipsy after
the operation. Feeling nearly well, I started on my way home, and then
for the first time perceived a most acute pain under the nail of the
left thumb: this pain also ran up the arm. I set to work to suck the
wound, and then found out how the poison had got into the system. About
an hour before I examined the dead rat I had been cleaning the nail with
a penknife, and had slightly separated the nail from the skin beneath.
Into this little crack the poison had got when I was scraping the rat's
skin to examine the wound. How virulent, therefore, must the poison of
the cobra be! It had already been circulated in the body of the rat,
from which I had imbibed it second-hand!

MY MONKEY JACKO

From 'Curiosities of Natural History'

After some considerable amount of bargaining (in which amusing,
sometimes animated, not to say exciting exhibition of talent, Englishmen
generally get worsted by the Frenchmen, as was the case in the present
instance), Jacko became transferred, chain, tail and all, to his new
English master. Having arrived at the hotel, it became