OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 31 



agreeable odor, and is said to have a pungent taste." No authority is given for 

 the latter statement. Jeter' speaks of it as tasteless, but ascribes to it the power 

 to benumb the tongue when a drop is placed on that organ. I can only add 

 that I have never experienced the sensation in question. As respects Prof. 

 Brainard's account of its odor, it is proper to observe that, although, as I have 

 said, the venom was usually free from smell, specimens which had remained a long 

 time in the gland, sometimes had the peculiar animal odor of the snake itself 



Reaction of the Venom. — The subject of the acidity or alkalinity of the venom of 

 the European viper, was very early a matter of keen dispute. Mead and James 

 both asserted that it reddened litmus, and was of a distinctly acid reaction. Mead 

 afterwards disavowed this idea, and agreed with Fontana in calling it neutral. 

 Jussieu, who followed Mead in his earlier view, also agreed with him in recom- 

 mending the local and general treatment by volatile alkali, in the hope of neutral- 

 izing the acid in question. Dr. Brickell," of Savannah, appears to have been 

 the first to examine the reaction of rattlesnake poison. This observer found that 

 the venom was strongly acid, and reddened litmus paper. Dr. Harlan,^ of Phila- 

 delphia, also describes it as invariably acid. Brainard, Barton, Jeter, and others, 

 do not seem to have examined the question. 



My own observations on this subject were very numerous, and were directed, 

 not only towards ascertaining whether or not the venom was acid, but also as to 

 the normal reaction of the snake's mouth, when free from venom. 



I- find in my notes the record of eight observations, in all of which the venom 

 reddened litmus paper more or less distinctly. In a great many unrecorded obser- 

 vations I obtained no other result. It was uniformly acid, and this reaction was 

 common to all specimens of the poison, whether moist or dry, dark colored or 

 pale in tint. One of these specimens was two years old, and, when placed on 

 litmus paper, and touched with a drop of water, it reddened the paper distinctly. 

 I do not think that the venom increases in acidity upon being kept ; nor, on the 

 other hand, does the acid of the venom appear to be volatile, since litmus once 

 reddened by it, kept the red hue, until exposed to an alkali, which restored the 

 original blue tint of the test paper. That, finally, the acid was not due to changes 

 which occurred, exterior to the body of the snake, was shown by the constancy of 

 the acid reaction in specimens obtained by allowing the serpent to bite upon test 

 paper folded so thickly as to arrest the fang, and receive the poison directly 

 from it. 



The reaction of the mucous membrane of the mouth was almost as consistently 

 alkaline as that of the venom was acid. This observation of course suggested the 

 possibility of neutralization taking place, when the poison accidentally reached 

 the mouth. It was found, indeed, that litmus reddened by the venom became 

 blue again when left in the serpent's jaws; but, although the acid was neutralized, 



* Jeter, p. 20. 



» Brickell, Med. Depository, conducted by S. L. Mitchill, M. D., and E. Miller, M. P., New York, 

 1805, second hexade, vol. ii. p. 441. 

 ° Harlan, Med. and Phys. Researches, 1835, p. 502. 



