1 age i f sixty, although he appeared nearer eighty. He allowed
2 himself to be bitten every month by serpents. He was of short
3 stature, and of u eacheedcal appearance; his perspiration, which
4 I perceived at some distance, was peculiarly offensive, and was
5 similar to that of serpents. He told me In- had been troubled
6 with that, tnulady upwards of thirty years ; that at the commence¬
7 ment he permitted himself to be bitten once u year, afterwards
8 twice, but at that time, once in every month, and that the
9 serpents followed him ever, into the water. He stated that only
10 four days previously he had been bitten on the upper part
11 of liis hand, on which I could perceive a cicatrix, and lie
12 showed me numerous Scars on his hands and feet, so that
13 I could not doubt the truth of his statement He added,
14 that he had often sucked the venom or poison from the wounds
15 of bitten people. I am o.' opinion that he, in sucking the poison
16 from others (unless it is neutralized by his saliva) extracts or
17 diminishes h ; but, in their own cases, a similar virus being
18 existent in their system, every time they are bitten the fresh
19 virus neutralizes temporarily the other. Query —May not such
20 persons be able to neutralize even liydrophobiae poison ?
21 The before-mentioned learned faqueer and his four adult
22 sons, ns also other native hakims, may give a full explanation
23 of the above case, and procure for the English physicians
24 some such patient, so that they may he able to satisfy them¬
25 selves of the fact, and investigate the matter. T have seen
26 at least a dozen of them o'. Lahore, who were all males ; and
27 I am told that the number of such patients in the Punjab is
28 very large. The nature of the disease is, that the patients, at
29 certain periods, have on irresistible inclination to be bitten
30 by serpents; which they say does them a great deal of
31 good, as for a few days previously they are troubled with
32 fainting and dizziness; nausea, want of appetite, disinclina¬
33 tion to work, and heaviness in the limbs. These are th-.
34 symptoms of the disease in question; and at these times tin
35 serpents arc attracted towards them by the scent, and the
36 patients, looking upon them as their welcome benefactors