It has further been scientifically demonstrated that a man under the influence of fear or anger is much more and much sooner, affected by poison than when in the normal condition. Everybody knows how fear and anger make the pulse and the heart beat faster than the normal rate, and the quicker the flow of blood in the veins, the greater the heat generated. But the heat generated by evil passions is not healthy, but extremely harmful. Anger is, indeed, nothing but a variety of fever. Hence the best antidote against snake-bite is to use pure and Satvic food in moderation, to rid our minds of all evil passions like anger and fear, [Pg 138] 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 snake-bite 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.