30 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY 



than in others ; but of the cause of this difference I know nothing, nor am I able 

 to associate an increased virulency with any particular hue of the poison. 



Fontana^ describes the color of the venom of the Viper as yellow. Jeter" speaks 

 of the Crotalus poison as being more frequently of a greenish tint, though some- 

 times yellowish. Russell gives no information as to the color of Cobra venom, 

 or that of other East India serpents. 



Specific Gravity. — On the subject of the specific gravity of the venom, all authors 

 are silent, usually contenting themselves with the statement that it is heavier than 

 water. 



As it is very difficult to collect at any one time enough of the venom to admit 

 of the use of the specific gravity bottle, I was obliged to resort to other means. 



Having prepared a solution of sugar in water, of a specific gravity of 1030, 

 I threw into it with a pipette, a drop of pure venom. Finding that it sunk 

 rapidly, I increased the strength of the sugar solution, until the venom was 

 found to float in it midway. This rather coarse means enabled me to estimate 

 the average specific gravity of the clear poison at 1044. The specimen employed 

 came from a snake which had been unmolested for several weeks. To test the 

 matter further, I collected some poison from the same snake on the two following 

 daj's, obtaining but a drop or two on each occasion. The first of these specimens 

 had a specific weight of 1030. The second was estimated at 1035, so that it is 

 probable that the poison becomes concentrated by long I'esidence in the gland. 



The method of examination here employed is, of course, open to criticism, and 

 can furnish only approximate calculations ; but, as I know of no other facts in this 

 direction, I do not deem it proper to omit even the imperfect results thus attained. 



Physical Characters. — The venom examined by me was always more or less glu- 

 tinous. In the Viper, it so nearly resembled a gum, that it was described by Fon- 

 tana as such.^ That of the Crotalus dries very slowly, and is as adhesive as thick 

 solutions of gum-acacia. When completely desiccated, it resembled dried albumen, 

 and presented itself in thin yellow and transparent layers, traversed by number- 

 less cracks which in the Viper-poison were supposed by Mead to be the edges of 

 crystals peculiar to the secretion. 



Whether fluid or dried, the poison of the Crotalus was devoid of taste, and also 

 of smell, unless it had undergone putrefaction, to which, like other albuminoid 

 solutions, it is liable. I have tasted the rattlesnake poison repeatedly, once by 

 design, and several times through accident, when engaged in collecting it by suck- 

 ing it into a pipette. 



I could not perceive that it had the slightest taste or acridity. Mead alone 

 describes the venom of the viper as acrid and caustic to the tongue. Fontana 

 could discern no taste in it, but thought that it benumbed the part on which it 

 was placed. Brainard* states that the Crotalus venom has "a peculiar and dis- 



' Fontana on Poisons, VI. p. 12. Skinner's Translation. 



^ Jeter on Poisoned Wounds, p. 20. 



° Fontana, p. 263, vol. i. Skinner's Transl., where the Ablid examines and disproves this idea. 



* Bi'ainard, Smillisonian Institution, Annual Report of, i'or 18.'')4, p. 12,^. 



