A bright object always attracts snakes, and some victimized traveller’s eyes may have been remarkably brilliant, and in consequence smarted under the accident. Be that as it may, the poison is sometimes so abundant that you may see it flow from the mouth over the prey. The glands being excited, just as are the salivary glands of mammals, the mouth ‘waters’ with poison. In the Hamadryad I have seen it flow, or more correctly ‘dribble,’ down over the snake it was eating. This noxious secretion assists digestion in the same way that the ordinary saliva in the human mouth does. Says Dr. Carpenter, ‘The saliva prepares food for the business of the stomach; and if the ordinary operations of mastication and insalivation be neglected, the stomach has to do the whole work of preparation as well as its own especial duty of the digestion.’ That the digestive powers of snakes are strong, we know from the fact that nearly all animal substances are converted to nutriment in the stomach of a healthy snake. The abundant saliva must be a powerful agent in the process, because mastication takes no share in the work. This has become more than mere conjecture, since recent experiments have shown that snake venom possesses strong peptic qualities; that, like pancreatic juice, it will even dissolve raw meat and albuminous substances. Recent experiments have also shown that the salivary gland is the laboratory in which the poison of venomous serpents is elaborated; that ordinary saliva is there intensified, concentrated, and endowed with its toxic properties.