themselves or cure the bites.  Nor do they like to have the reptiles killed for fear of provoking the gods that look after them.  The snake gods are numbered by hundreds of thousands, and shrines have been erected to them in every village and on every highway.  If a pious Hindu peasant sees a snake he will seldom run from it, but will remain quiet and offer a prayer, and if it bites him and he dies, his heirs and relatives will erect a shrine to his memory.  The honor of having a shrine erected to one’s memory is highly appreciated.  Hence death from snake poison is by no means the worst fate a Hindu can suffer.  These facts indicate the difficulties the government officials meet in their endeavors to exterminate reptiles.

Snake charmers are found in every village.  They are usually priests, monks or sorcerers, and may generally be seen in the neighborhood of Hindu temples and tombs.  They carry from two to twenty hideous reptiles of all sizes in the folds of their robes, generally next to their naked bosoms, and when they see a chance of making a few coppers from a stranger they draw them out casually and play with them as if they were pets.  Usually the fangs have been carefully extracted so that the snakes are really harmless.  At the same time they are not agreeable companions.  Sometimes snake charmers will allow their pets to bite them, and, when the blood appears upon the surface of the skin, they place lozenges of some black absorbent upon the wounds to suck up the blood and afterward sell them at high prices for charms and amulets.

When Mr. Henry Phipps of New York was in India he became very much interested in this subject.  His sympathies were particularly excited by the number of poor people who died from snake bites and from the bites of wild animals, without medical attention.  There is only one small Pasteur institute in India, and it is geographically situated so that it cannot be reached without several days’ travel from those parts of the empire where snakes are most numerous and the mortality from animals is largest.  With his usual modesty, without saying anything to anybody, Mr. Phipps placed $100,000 in the hands of Lord Curzon with a request that a hospital and Pasteur institute be established in southern India at the most accessible location that can be found for the treatment of such cases, and a laboratory established for original research to discover antidotes and remedies for animal poisons.  After thorough investigation it was decided to locate the institute in the Province of Madras.  The local government provided a site and takes charge of its maintenance, while the general government will pay an annual subsidy corresponding to the value of the services rendered to soldiers sent there for treatment.