"Great as science is," he commenced, at length, "it is yet far
removed from perfection. There are, for instance, substances so
mysterious, subtle, and dangerous as to set the most delicate
tests and powerful lenses at naught, while they carry death most
horrible in their train."

He could scarcely have chosen his opening words with more effect.

"Chief among them," he proceeded, "are those from nature's own
laboratory. There are some sixty species of serpents, for example,
with deadly venom. Among these, as you doubtless have all heard,
none has brought greater terror to mankind than the cobra-di-
capello, the Naja tripudians of India. It is unnecessary for me to
describe the cobra or to say anything about the countless
thousands who have yielded up their lives to it. I have here a
small quantity of the venom"--he indicated it in a glass beaker.
"It was obtained in New York, and I have tested it on guinea-pigs.
It has lost none of its potency."

I fancied that there was a feeling of relief when Kennedy by his
actions indicated that he was not going to repeat the test.

"This venom," he continued, "dries in the air into a substance
like small scales, soluble in water but not in alcohol. It has
only a slightly acrid taste and odour, and, strange to say, is
inoffensive on the tongue or mucous surfaces, even in considerable
quantities. All we know about it is that in an open wound it is
deadly swift in action."

It was difficult to sit unmoved at the thought that before us, in