ter's method in
every one of these countries is merely a question of time, for
snake-poison acts everywhere according to one uniform principle, however
different the symptoms it produces may appear to the superficial
observer. The antidote, therefore, that cures snakebite in Australia
will as surely cure it elsewhere if properly and efficiently applied.

To his Australian confreres, more especially to those who adopted his
method but had to practise it more or less empirically, the writer also
owes a more elaborate explanation of his theory of the action of
snake-poison in all its bearings on the various nerve centres than is to
be found in the scattered writings he has from time to time published in
our periodical literature. His warmest thanks are due to them for the
records of cases they have furnished to the _Australasian Medical
Gazette_, and to the Hon. J. M. Creed, its able editor, for the ample
space he has invariably allotted to the subject, and the valuable
support he has given him throughout. By our united efforts we have
reared in a dark and hitherto barren field of research a column of solid
knowledge, and on this column Australia now occupies the highest and
will ever occupy the most prominent place.

Not the least pleasing feature in the history of this discovery is the
fact that it has been made without an elaborate series of experiments on
animals, that it is a peaceful conquest not attained by means of
doubtful justification, and which have hitherto invariably failed in
their object. This object--the discovery of the coveted
antidote--instead of being brought nearer, was, in fact, further removed
by every succeeding series of experiments. However fruitful in results
this mode of research has been in other domains, in this particular one
it has not only been a failure but an actual bar to progress. Nature
invariably refused to yield her secret when thus interrogated. The
tortured animals, like the victims of Torquemada, either did not answer
at all or they answered with a lie, and the baffled experimenter
abandoned his task in despair.

Still, these negative results notwithstanding, the writer is confronted
by a certain class of would-be rigorous scientists, who tell him that
his theory of the action of snake-poison, though it explains all the
phenomena, cannot be accepted as correct until it has been proven so by
strict test experiments on animals, and that the successful
administration of the antid