578 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



being considered ns representing the most venomous, while 

 the (Jalophicles and the Crotalidw are generally treated by the 

 natives as being much less so than the others. 



The general symptoms of poisoning he considers to be of 

 much the same character. In some cases the convulsions, 

 however, are more marked than in others, death being pre- 

 ceded in some by a more lethargic appearance ; but in every 

 case the symptoms all point to exhaustion and paralysis of 

 the nerve centres, every function failing rapidly, and vitality 

 soon becoming extinct. A complete loss of consciousness is 

 generally preceded by local paralysis, great depression, faint- 

 ness, exhaustion, nausea, vomiting, hemorrhage, relaxation, 

 and involuntary evacuations, not unfrequently of a sanguine- 

 ous or muco-sanguincous character. Little is shown by a 

 post-mortem examination beyond the marks of the fangs and 

 of the wounds immediately around them, although in cer- 

 tain cases infiltration, and perhaps decomposition of the tis- 

 sues, appear. The lungs are not congested, nor is the heart 

 overloaded. The viscera appear natural, and death does not 

 seem to be dependent upon the disturbance of any one par- 

 ticular function. A remarkable difference is seen in the ef- 

 fect upon the blood by the bite of different species. Thus, 

 in the case of the lower animals, the blood coagulates firmly 

 on being removed from the body when death follows from 

 poisoning by the colubrine snakes, while in cases of death by 

 the poison of the viper it remains permanently fluid. No 

 explanation is given of this peculiarity. From experiments, 

 Dr. Fayrer ascertained that the poison acts with more vigor 

 on warm-blooded animals, birds being especially sensitive 

 a fowl sometimes being known to die in a few seconds. The 

 power of resistance generally appears to be in proportion to 

 the size of the animal, although cats seem to resist the influ- 

 ence of poison almost as long as dogs of three or four times 

 their weight. Cold-blooded animals he found to succumb to 

 the poison more slowly, though fish, non-venomous serpents, 

 and mollusca all die. He, however, agrees with the observa- 

 tion of Dr. Mitchell and others, that poisonous serpents are 

 not affected by their own bite ; that is, that a cobra may bite 

 itself or another cobra with no evil result, but that the less 

 poisonous serpents are somewhat affected by the more poi- 

 sonous kinds, although slowly. Strange as it may appear, 



