496 ox THE FEMORAL GLAXD OP ORXITIIORHYNCHUS, 



proteids, and we have just seen that the introduction of these 

 proteids into the animal economy may lead to fatal results. 



The i^ossibility that the toxic agent may be of other than proteid 

 nature, but inseparable from the proteid constituents by the means 

 employed, must remain open. The small quantity of the secretion 

 at our disposal (less than -4 gramme) did not admit of any varied 

 or extensive methods of purification. We do not, however, think 

 that such is the case, as we have knowledge of other proteids 

 which are capable of producing similar results to those obtained. 



The close analogy between some of the symptoms observed by 

 us and those recorded as occurring in men and dogs when poisoned 

 by wounds from the spur, lead us to expect that had we used 

 other animals for our experiments, the results would have been 

 parallel. • 



In Experiment i, in which the poison was introduced sul)- 

 cutaneously, the symptoms were precisely similar to those exhibited 

 after wounds from the spurs, in which the secretion would almost 

 certainl}^ be injected under the skin. 



In the other experiments in which the secretion was intra 

 venously injected, the conditions were so different that they are not 

 comparable to the same extent. 



The most striking effect is, perhaps, the almost universal throm- 

 bosis which occurred in those experiments in which the poison 

 was rapidly introduced directly into the circulation ( Exps. ii and iii). 



In Experiment i\, where only -02 gramme of secretion was 

 injected intravenously, no intravascular clotting followed, and the 

 condition of the blood after death was in remarkable contrast to 

 Experiments ii and iii, for it failed to clot as rapidly as usual, 

 twelve minutes elapsing before the onset of coagulation. These 

 results would be almost unintelligible were they not, so far, 

 alisolutely analogous to some effects produced by the introduction 

 of the venom of our Australian snakes which have been more 

 fully discussed by one of us* elsewhere. 



The next most striking general effect of the poison is the sudden 

 and great fall in the pressure of the l)lood, which is so mai'ked a 



* C. J. Martin, loc. n't. 



