on concludes that all the evidence tends to show that the
disease had probably been communicated from the blood of an infected
person through the bite of the insect. It thus appears that even the
proverbially trivial fleabite may at times prove a serious injury.

Snake-bites.--A writer in an Indian paper asserts that the traditional
immunity of Indian snake-charmers is due to the fact that having been
accidentally bitten by poisonous serpents or insects more than once,
and having survived the first attack, they are subsequently immune. His
assertion is based on personal acquaintance with Madari Yogis and
Fakirs, and an actual experiment made with a Mohammedan Fakir who was
immune to the bites of scorpions provided by the writer. The animals
were from five to seven inches long and had lobster-like claws. Each
bite drew blood, but the Fakir was none the worse.

The venom of poisonous snakes may be considered the most typical of
animal poisons, being unrivaled in the fatality and rapidity of its
action. Fortunately in our country there are few snake-bites, but in
the tropic countries, particularly India, the mortality from this cause
is frightful. Not only are there numerous serpents in that country, but
the natives are lightly dressed and unshod, thus being exposed to the
bites of the reptiles. It is estimated by capable authorities that the
deaths in India each year from snake-bites exceed 20,000. It is stated
that there were 2893 human beings killed by tigers, leopards, hyenas,
and panthers in India during the year 1894, and in the same year the
same species of beasts, aided by snakes, killed 97,371 head of cattle.
The number of human lives destroyed by snakes in India in 1894 was
21,538. The number of wild beasts killed in the same year was 13,447,
and the number of snakes killed was 102,210.

Yarrow of Washington, who has been a close student of this subject, has
found in this country no less than 27 species of poisonous snakes,
belonging to four genera. The first genus is the Crotalus, or
rattlesnake proper; the second is the Caudisona, or ground-rattlesnake;
the third is the Ancistrodon, or moccasin, one of the species of which
is a water-snake; and the fourth is the Elaps, or harlequin snake.
There is some dispute over the exact degree of the toxic qualities of
the venom of the Heloderma suspectum, or Gila monster. In India the
cobra is the most deadly snake. It grows to the length of 5 1/2 feet,
and is most acti