BITTEN BY A KING COBRA

Evening Star, Issue 22805, 13 November 1937, Page 8

BITTEN BY A KING COBRA

HE LIVES TO TELL THE TALE Meet the man who was bitten hy ail deadly 14ft King Cobra and lives t<< tell the tale. He is Mr A. St. Alban Smith, -pioneer in snake venom research as i| applies to medicine. Europeans and Malayans _ never 1 re* cover from a bite_ by a King Cobra* yet Mr Smith invited attack by fencing with a stick with a ham* adryad he had captured in the Malayan jungle. Mr Smith, now resting in Guernsey* claims that not only has he recovered completely from the effect of the bite* but that trench fever from which he suffered for years, has vanished. Fifteen years ago, when a rubben planter, he was accidentally bitten by a krait, a snake smaller than the hamadryad, but equally deadly. With* out medical aid he recovered. He became convinced that he was immune from death as the result of snake bite. “In a snake hunt with natives a few months ago I killed-the female hamadryad,” Mr Smith told a reporter* “ and took his mat© into captivity. “ Some of my American friends asked if the male would attack if it were lek loose. . “ I said it would, hut I was prepared to take the risk if my friends wanted some fun.” So close were the contestants that snake venom sprayed on to Mr Smith’s glasses. . .. Then he made a mistake. He put up his sleeve to wipe th* venom from the lenses. It was only for an instant, but simultaneously' ha dropped the point of his stick ever so slightly. In a flash the snake struck neatly and quickly at Mr Smith’s ankle. “ But, you see. I recovered,” said Mr Smith. “My health is better than, ever. There was virtue in that Teaoat*’^