50 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY 



level to which the fluid rose in the tubes having been marked, they were finally 

 placed in an atmosphere of 76° F. Through accident the temperature was allowed 

 to rise to 128° F. It afterwards fell to 80° F., was kept at this during two hours 

 and a half, and was then abandoned to the atmospheric temperature, which varied 

 during the experiment from 69° to 77° F. Experiments previously made, con- 

 vinced me that the accidental rise of temperature would not be likely to injure the 

 venom. The action of the ferment was unusually slow, but at the end of forty- 

 eight hours both solutions had fermented, the test glasses were half full of carbonic 

 acid gas, and the fluid thus displaced had risen through the tubes and overflowed 

 externally. 



Experiment. — On this occasion, I modified the process by leaving the ten drops 

 of yeast in contact with three drops of venom for two hours, at a temperature of 

 79° F. In all other respects, the experiment resembled that last described. 

 Within thirtj'-nine hours, both tubes had fermented freely. The remnant solu- 

 tions within the test-tubes contained an abundance of yeast fungus, and I was, 

 therefore, driven to the conclusion that the venom does not interfere with alcoholic 

 fermentation, nor with the accompanying growth of sporules. 



The next observations upon the effect of the venom on the lower vegetable 

 growths, were accidentally introduced to my notice. They appear to me to be 

 still more decisive than those last mentioned. 



During the warm weather of August, I had mixed two or three drops of venom 

 with eight or ten of water, and left the mixture in a corked test-tube on my table. 

 It was neglected during two weeks, and when microscopically examined, was found 

 to contain a number of what I took to be the sporules of fungi. During the month 

 of September I repeated this observation upon some diluted poison which had been 

 left in a test-tube during three weeks. In this specimen, I found an abundance of 

 sporules. 



As it was possible that the solution of venom might, by decomposing, have lost 

 its virulence, I tested it by inoculating with it the breasts of two reed-birds which 

 died with the usual local and general symptoms within two hours. 



In passing to my experiments upon a higher order of plants, I began by using 

 dried venom about two yeai's old, but, as my experiments upon animals will 

 show, of a potency only inferior to that of the freshest material. 



Experiment. — During the month of June, 1859, four young shoots of tradescantia, 

 a very succulent and rather tender trailing plant, were selected for experiment. 

 Each of the shoots was split half way through, and about one-third of a grain of 

 dry, pulverized venom was dropped into the opening, which was then allowed to 

 close on the poison. The plants were next well watered, and a drop or two allowed 

 to fall on the line of the incision. Four other shoots, two on the same, and two 

 on other plants, were similarly, or even more mutilated, and in all cases the shoots 

 chosen were from five to seven inches long. During a week, no result was ob- 

 tained from these experiments. After that period, two of the unvenomed shoots, 

 and one of the poisoned, became sickly, and gradually lost most of their leaves within 

 the ensuing fortnight. So complete a negative result forbade any definite conclu- 

 sions. 



