Page:Guide to health.djvu/150

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138
A GUIDE TO HEALTH

to refrain from giving way to panic, to retain perfect confidence in the saving power of a pure and Godly life, and to remain self-possessed in the full faith that we are ever in God's hands, and that the span of life which He has allotted to us can on no account be curtailed or exceeded.

Dr. Fitz-Seaman, the Director of the Port Elizabeth Museum, who has devoted a large portion of his life to the study of snakes, their varieties and their habits, and who is a great authority on snakebite and its cure, has told us, as a result of his numerous experiments, that the majority of the so-called deaths by snake-bite are really caused by fear and the wrong remedies applied by quacks.

We should remember that all snakes are not venomous, and that even the bite of all venomous snakes is not immediately fatal either. Moreover, the snakes do not always get an opportunity of injecting their venom into the body of their victim. We should not, therefore, give way to panic even when we are bitten by a venomous serpent, especially since very simple remedies are available, which can be applied by ourselves without any aid from others.

The part of the body immediately above the point at which the snake has bitten should be tied round with tight bandage, which should be further strengthened by means of strong pencils or pieces