154 



may be called elapine, viperine, crotaline, &c., accord- 

 ing to the suake by which it is produced. Its toxic eftect 

 varies in each of these kinds and at present we have little 

 knowledge as to its mode of action, I am inclined to think 

 that, in the cobra-poison at least, the effect of the ferment 

 is to set up a diseased action in the blood rendering it 

 incapable of circulating through the lungs. Hence the 

 symptoms of death from asphyxia. 



Considering that snake-poison can be obtained in consider- 

 able quantity and that it preserves its properties when dried, 

 one may reasonably be surprised that it has not been better 

 studied. Unfortunately sensationalism has invaded this 

 branch of medical inquiry and the prominence of the antidote 

 question has prevented the systematic examination of the 

 poison which would prepare the way for the discovery of the 

 antidote. There is no excuse for the neglect of systematic 

 examination of the subject in the course of empirical research 

 after a remedy, for this object, if attained, is by no means 

 so practically useful as would at first sight appear. One 

 misrht almost count on the ten fin^i^ers all the authentic 

 cases of venomous snake-bite which have occurred amongst 

 Europeans in India during the last half-century ; and on 

 the five fingers all those attributable to accident only. With 

 the exception of the Army cases of which I shall presently 

 speak, I only know of one case where a European has been 

 bitten otherwise than through his own imprudence ; he 

 recovered and the snake is said to have been a cobra. Apart 

 from the interest of the subject, when studied in a scientific 

 manner, I think that snake-poison experiments do harm by 

 keeping up a sensational excitement and by diverting medical 

 energies which would be far better employed in seeking a 

 remedy for diseases more obnoxious to Europeans in a week 

 than all the snake-bites of a century. Europeans do not need 

 antidotes, and the black population of India are out of their 

 reach. If all the real cases of deadly snake-bite which come 



