A POPULAR TREATISE ON INDIAN SNAKES. 9 



(A. J.) mentions a supplementary gland in this viper, globular in form, 

 which completely surrounds, and empties itself into the ducts draining 

 the major sac. 



Poison.— Physical qualities.— Lamb* tells us that this venom is clear, 

 with a small quantity of undissolved material in suspension. Its 

 reaction is acid. The taste resembles gum acacia. In drying it 

 cracks into longitudinal fissures yielding needle-shaped fragments. The 

 dried product retains its toxic properties indefinitely, and is reaaily 

 soluble in water. 



Ejects internally. — When swallowed, daboia venom has no more de- 

 leterious effect on the system than cobra poison, but of course one must 

 postulate a healthy and unbroken surface in the mouth, and further 

 passages. Elliotf gave 11 drops to a goat, and a larger quantity to a 

 dog without noticing any ill effects. 



Toxicity. — As every one in this country is doubtless fully aware, 

 Russell's viper ranks among our deadliest snakes. The action of its 

 poison is so different from that of cobra venom, that one can hardly 

 compare their relative degrees of virulence. The poison appears to be 

 as fatal in the doses usually injected during a bite, but death, except 

 experimentally, is not so rapidly produced in large animals including 

 man. Russell saw a fowl die in 36 seconds, Fayrer a fowl in 34 seconds, 

 and Millard a rat die in 35 seconds- Lamb, however, has shown that 

 these cases of precipitate death are attributable to relatively very large 

 doses, and that in the case of large animals the dose necessary to pro- 

 duce such rapid death is larger than a Russell's viper could inject at one 

 bite. A dog mentioned by Davy died 58 minutes after a bite in the leg. 

 The dog Elliot saw succumb to a bite, died in less than 3 hours. 

 Another dog which Traill saw bitten in four places died in 8 hours. 

 The gunner referred to by Nicholson succumbed in 27 hours. In a 

 case cited by Fayrer, an adult man died in 7 hours. 



As in the case of other poisonous snakes it does not, however, in the 

 least follow, that a serious bite will cause death if left untreated. 

 There is abundant evidence to show that a percentage of cases, hard 

 to determine, do not die even though the local injuries are such as to 

 warrant the gravest apprehension. No more instructive record on 



* Jour., Bom. Nat. Hist. Soc, Vol. XIV., p. 222. 



f Loc. cit., p. 33. 



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