POISON OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 311 



The succeeding day this animal also recovered, no symp- 

 tom remaining except a slight tenderness in the part where 

 the inoculation had been performed. Had the •■xpnijic' been 

 administered in this ease, the cure would doubtless have been 

 attributed to its operation. 



Experiment 6. 



Poison was squeezed out of the sack of a living snake, and 

 being placed od a piece of meat, -was given to a pup to eat: 

 it produced no effect, local or constitutional, upon the animal. 



Aneitomieed Observed ions, fye. 



In all venomous snakes there is an opening of considerable 

 size situate between the eye and nostril, which penetrates 

 in the direction of the poison apparatus, at the base of the 

 fang: tlii use of this opening, in the economy of the animal, 

 as far as I can learn, has never been discovered : it has no 

 direct communication with the cavity containing the poison. 

 but is connected with the lachrymal passages, so successfully 

 investigated hy Jules Cloquet*. On a careful examination 

 of tin-; portion of tin- anatomy of the Crotalus. I have invari- 

 ably found at the bottom of this cavity an exceedingly deli- 

 cate transparent membrane, extending over the osseous cavitj 

 in the hone at tin base of the fang. This membrane, whilst 

 it intercepts any direct communication between the sack and 

 externa] canal, might at the same time permit the action of 

 tin atmosphere on the fluid contained in the sack, to take 

 place through it. and thus to change it- chemical properties, 

 'rhi> sack communicates with the oculo-palpebral cavity, 

 formed between tin- eyelid and conjunctiva. The poison of 



Vid, Memoire >ur ('Existence et la Disposition des Voies Laclirymulcs dan 

 les Serpens. 



