DEFIERS OF POISONOUS REPTILES: THARDO; MRS.

LEARN, DEALER IN RATTLESNAKES .-- SIR ARTHUR THURLOW CUNYNGHAME ON ANTIDOTES FOR SNAKE-BITE .-- JACK THE VIPER .-- WILLIAM OLIVER, 1735 .-- THE ADVICE OF CORNELIUS HEINRICH AGRIPPA, (1486-1535) .-- AN AUSTRALIAN SNAKE STORY .-- ANTIDOTES FOR VARIOUS POISONS.
About twenty-two years ago, during one of my many engagements at Kohl and Middleton's, Chicago, there appeared at the same house a marvelous "rattle-snake poison defier" named Thardo.

I watched her act with deep interest for a number of weeks, never missing a single performance.
For the simple reason that I worked within twelve feet from her, my statement that there was absolutely no fake attached to her startling performance can be taken in all seriousness, as the details are still fresh in my mind.
Thardo was a woman of exceptional beauty, both of form and feature, a fluent speaker and a fearless enthusiast in her devotion to her art.
She would allow herself to be repeatedly bitten by rattle-snakes and received no harm excepting the ordinary pain of the wound.

After years of investigation I have come to the belief that this immunity was the result of an absolutely empty stomach, into which a large quantity of milk was taken shortly after the wound was inflicted, the theory being that the virus acts directly on the contents of the stomach, changing it to a deadly poison.
It was Thardo's custom to give weekly demonstrations of this power, to which the medical profession were invited, and on these occasions she was invariably greeted with a packed house.

When the moment of the supreme test came, an awed silence obtained; for the thrill of seeing the serpent flash up and strike possessed a positive fascination for her audiences.