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PAPERS READ. 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE POISONOUS CONSTITUENTS 

 OF THE VENOM OF THE AUSTRALIAN BLACK 

 SNAKE (PSEUD EC HIS PORPHYRIACUS). 



By C. J. Martin, M.B., B.Sc, Lond. 



Demonstrator of Physiology Univ. of Sydney, late Demonstr. 



OF Physiology King's Coll., London. 



With the exception of a few observations, I can find no record of 

 investigations into the chemistry of the venom of the Australian 

 snakes such as have been undertaken with the poison obtained 

 from Indian and American species. 



The first investigation into the chemistry of snake poisons of 

 any importance was by Prince Lucien Bonaparte with the venom 

 of an adder ( Pelias herns) in 184-3. An interesting account of 

 this is given by Sir Joseph Fayrer in a paper in the Proceedings of 

 the Medical Society, London, 1884. 



Bonaparte found that the activity of the poison was associated 

 with the portion coagulable by alcohol, and gave the name of 

 viperine to this coagulated material. 



In the first volume of the Analyst (1876), Winter Blyth states 

 that he found in cobra poison a crystalline highly poisonous body, 

 to which he gives the name " cobric acid," and that this is the 

 sole poisonous constituent. Blyth's conclusions are criticised by 

 Wolfenden (Journal of Physiology, Vol. vii.) who at the same 

 time shows that the toxic qualities of cobra venom are resident 

 in its proteid constituents. 



In 1878 Professor Pedler,* of Calcutta, published an account of 

 his investigations. He made an ultimate analysis of the dried 

 poison, and showed that in percentage composition it closely corre- 

 sponded with that of albuminous bodies generally. He also claimed 

 to have separated a ".semi-crystalline" body of an " alkaloidal 

 nature," to which he ascribed the potency of cobra venom. 



* Proc. Roy. Soc. 1878. 



