276 QUARTERLY CHRONICLE. 



recent observations.'^ M. Balbiani stated that the epidermic 

 cells of the skin often contain Bacteria, and may thus be the 

 means of introducing them into blisters, pustules, &c. 



Miscellaneous. — '' Action of the Poison of Snakes on the 

 Blood." — Dr. Halford, of Melbourne, some time since drew 

 attention in this Journal to the remarkable abundance of 

 white corpuscles in the blood of animals killed by snake- 

 bites. Dr. Joseph Jones, of New York, relates some careful 

 experiments on the action of the poison of the American 

 copperhead snake in the ' Medical Record.' Of several cases 

 observed the following appears to have been the most fully 

 studied. The dog lived six days, and directly after being 

 bitten alteration of the red blood-corpuscles was noticed 

 about the wound. A post-mortem examination was made 

 thirty hours after death. 



The fore-leg which had been struck by the copperhead was 

 infiltrated by the bloody serum ; all the fibrous tissues of the 

 leg and thigh beneath the skin, up to the abdomen and 

 beyond, were greatly infiltrated with dark purplish-black 

 serum. Under the microscope this presented numerous oil- 

 globules and altered blood-corpuscles, with ragged star-like 

 edges ; long acicular crystals were also seen floating amongst 

 the altered blood-corpuscles. The blood, from the swollen 

 infiltrated cellular structures of the head and nose, where 

 the snake inflicted the severest bite, presented a peculiar 

 appearance ; thousands of small acicular crystals were min- 

 gled with the altered blood-corpuscles, and as the bloody 

 serum and effused blood dried, the blood-corpuscles seemed 

 to be transformed into crystalline masses, shooting out into 

 crystals of hmnatin in all directions. The blood-vessels of 

 the b)-ain were filled with gelatinous coagulable blood, which 

 presented altered blood-corpuscles and acicular crystals. 



The muscular system everywhere presented a dark pur- 

 plish colour. The heart was filled with coagulated black 

 blood. When spread upon a glass slide, the blood-corpus- 

 cles almost immediately commenced to assume a crystalline 

 form. Blood-vessels of brain filled with dark blood ; mem- 

 branes and structures of brain presented a normal appear- 

 ance ; there were no lesions of the brain recognisable to the 

 eye. The exterior fibrous sheath of the spinal cord presented 

 a red appearance, as if the colouring matters of the blood 

 had been efl'used ; structure of spinal cord natural; vertebral 

 arteries filled with coagulated blood. 



From this and other cases in which the blood was ex- 

 amined of the living animal. Dr. Jones concludes that the 



* Vide Kcv. M. J. Berkeley's Address in thi.s number of the Jounuil. 



