Karl Patterson Schmidt was a renowned American herpetologist who had years of experience with snakes and other reptiles. But he was mistaken about one very important fact- how venomous a boomslang snake is. He was bitten on the thumb by a juvenile boomslang in 1957.
Karl Schmidt, like many herpetologists at the time, didn't believe that boomslang venom had the fatal dose necessary to kill humans, although peer-reviewed studies showed otherwise. Instead of treating his bite wound, Schmidt took the train home from work, and began to record the effect of the venom in his journal. Schmidt believed that accepting treatment would upset the symptoms he was documenting.
By treating the snake bite as an experiment to observe instead of an emergency, Schmidt didn't seek treatment until it was too late. However, it may have always been too late, since no antivenom was available in 1957. Read Schmidt's story at Amusing Planet.
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