That, too, I observed in
the sample sent me from Tarrytown.
"The snake," Kennedy continued, "administers the poison by fangs
more delicate than any hypodermic. Nature's apparatus is more
precise than the finest appliances devised for the use of a
surgeon by our instrument makers. The fangs are like needles with
obliquely cut points and slit-like outlets. The poison glands
correspond to the bulb of a syringe. They are, in reality, highly
modified salivary glands. From them, when the serpent strikes, is
ejected a pale straw-colored half-oleaginous fluid. You might
swallow it with impunity. But once in the blood, through a cut or
wound, it is deadly."
"There could be no snake in this case," I remarked. "The fangs of
a serpent make two punctures, don't they; while here there was
just the one scratch--"
"Of course there were no fangs when the deed was actually done,"
he rejoined, impatiently. "We've traced everything to the needle
in the portieres and it is my belief that it was part of an all-
glass hypodermic with a platinum-iridium point. It could hardly
have been anything like the coarser syringe used by Werner, nor
do I think it possible that the point of an ordinary needle would
hold sufficient venom, since it would dry and form a coating like
the incrustation on the inside of the ampulla McGroarty found."
"That was the venom?" I asked.
"Yes, I found it in the ampulla and in the stain on the portiere
where the needle had pierced through.
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