306 EXPERIMENTS MADE ON THE 



After the lapse of nearly an hour from the commencement 

 of the experiment, no symptom denoting the action of the 

 poison occurring, Elnsworth exposed the same hand to a 

 large active male snake. As in the first instance, considera- 

 ble irritation of the animal was requisite to force him to 

 strike, and at 



12 h. 15 m. He received a second wound from a single 

 fang on the back of his hand, directly over a prominent ve- 

 nous branch. A large drop of transparent, yellowish, and glairy 

 fluid was spread over and around the wound, which was 

 doubtless ejected from the poison sack. A little very dark 

 blood slowly exuded from the wound. 



12 h. 31 m. Slight swelling is observable immediately 

 around the second bite. 



1 2 h. 48 m. Elnsworth again exposed his hand to the female 

 snake, and received two additional punctures simultaneously, 

 one from each fang, on the lower extremity of the metacar- 

 pal bone of the ring-finger. As in the first instance, nei- 

 ther of these wounds displayed symptoms of the specific ef- 

 fects of the poison ; the second bite therefore, or that received 

 from the male snake, will alone be the subject of further ob- 

 servations in this experiment. 



1 o'clock, P. M. The swelling around the second bite 

 has increased considerably, the tumefaction extending up and 

 down along the course of the vein, about an inch and a half 

 in length, and half that size in breadth, the greatest length of 

 the tumefaction being below the wound. The man now 

 complained of pain and numbness along the course of the 

 lymphatic vessels on the inner part of the fore-arm. 



1 h. 25 m. Pulse natural, symptoms last described some- 

 what increased ; swelling unattended with symptoms of in- 

 flammation. 



1 h. 30 m. Although the man is perfectly willing to per- 

 mit the symptoms to proceed further, several of the witnesses 

 expressed their unwillingness to bear the responsibility of 

 the consequences ; he was therefore permitted to have recourse 

 to his remedy, and he immediately swallowed a few ounces 



