14.-) 



sensations .produced without any toxic symptoms, tlii;-; 

 being just the contrary of the effect produced by the bite of 

 the latter snake. Nevertheless, if the bite be inflicted by 

 any snake of highly venomous character, the constitutional 

 effects appear to be much the same, that is to say, intense 

 depression of the vital powers followed by loss of conscious- 

 ness, convulsions and probably death. Bleeding from the 

 mucous membranes of the mouth and alimentary canal is a 

 frequent pathological feature. Experiments have always 

 been made on animals, and cases of snake bite from well 

 identified species come so very rarely under medical observa- 

 tion that our information is very incomplete. 



The following is a sketch of it such as it is : — 



Naga tviioudians, the cobra, possesses a poison fatal to all 

 vertebrate animals with the exception of a few other 

 venomous snakes; the harmless snakes mostly succumb to 

 its effect. It is hardly necessary to remark that a mongoos, 

 if fairly bitten by a cobra, most certainly dies. A fair bite 

 kills a dog in 5 to 60 minutes.* A man survives from two 

 to twelve or even twenty -four hours. If the bite is a fair 

 one, that is, made willingly and viciously by a vigorous 

 snake on a part uncovered by clothing, the quantity of 

 poison injected will almost certainly be sufficient to produce 

 fatal results unless active local measures are at once adopted. 

 Beyond a slight burning pain in the bitten part the patient 

 usually suffers but little. 



It would appear from the following case, one of the few 

 extant in the records of white troops, that death may occur 

 in a healthy European after as little as two hours : — 



" The death from a snake-bite occurred when the res^iment 



* One of Dr. Shortt's experiments would seem to show that \ grain 

 dry poison, equal to \ drop of fresh poison, has no effect on a large 

 full grown dog, and that about | grain, equal to 1^ drop of fresh 

 poison, is required. 



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