[Fannie B. Ward’s Mexico Letter.]
    They tell us that here, and all along the southern coasts of Mexico people have a habit of inoculating themselves with the virus of the rattlesnakes or adder, which renders them forever afterwards absolutely safe from the bite or sting of any reptile, however poisonous. The truth of the statement I cannot vouch for, but “will tell the tale as ’twas told to me.” The person to be thus vaccinated is pricked with the fang of the serpent, on the tongue, in both arms, and on various parts of the body, and the venom is thoroughly introduced into the wounds. Immediately an erruption comes out, which continues a few days, accompanied by fever, after which the skin flakes off in scales, something as in leprosy.
    But now comes the unbelievable part of the story. Not only can an inoculated person handle the most poisonous serpents with impunity-making them come at will, fondling and caressing them-but the bite of these persons themselves is considered as fatal as that of a rattlesnake! The reader is scarcely expected to swallow this; but, nevertheless, we have the testimony of several gentlemen, both Mexican and American, whose word is unimpeachable-on other subjects.
    A well-known merchant of Tampico [English] tells me that he has been vainly endeavoring to make up his mind to submit to the operation, as he is obliged to be traveling up and down the coast a great deal, and is, therefore, in constant danger. He is always accompanied on these expeditions by his servant, an inoculated negro, and when he receives a bite or sting, the servant immediately cures him by sucking the wound. He says that this negro, not long since, cured a white boy who hade been bitten by an inoculated young Indian, with whom he had been fighting and who exhibited every symptom of having been bitten by an adder, and would undoubtedly have died without this timely assistance.
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