“And he recovered?” asked Thud.
“Yes, he recovered,” replied the man with a grin; “but the snake warn’t a poisonous un.”
“Still, its clear that ammonia is the antidote to a serpent’s poison.”
“Maybe it is, maybe it ain’t,” said the man.
“And no one can deny,” pursued Thud, “that with every evil under the sun the wise thing is to go to the fountain-head, the source.”
“The fountain-head, the source,” echoed Champer,without the slightest comprehension of what the oracle meant.
“Now, what is the source, the fountain-head of a serpent’s poison. Is it not the serpent’s fang?” cried Thud.
“Certainly, the serpent’s fang,” said the echo.
“Then my theory is, that if ammonia corrects poison in the blood of a bitten man, it would be far more effectual, and economical too, to introduce it, not into the wound, but into the jaws that might inflict such a wound. Is not this self-evident?” asked the philosopher, appealing to Champer.
“Self-evident,” repeated the echo, but with a very faint comprehension of the orator’s logic.