58 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY 



existed also in the leg not bitten. About the bite, the muf^cular structure was 

 almost diffluent, and could be torn with the utmost ease. A slight effusion of blood 

 was found under both forelegs, in the axillary spaces. Elsewhere the organs were 

 healthy. The heart was unirritable, and contained a little thin uncoagulated blood. 

 Nervous irritability was extinct, and that of the muscles absent, except under the 

 chin, where it remained for an hour or more after exposure. 



Exjierimeiit.—Temi^erntnre 74.° F. A second frog of large size was bitten twice by 

 the same snake which had just bitten the last one. On each occasion, a single fang 

 entered, the leg and the thigh being thus wounded. From these wounds, a bloody 

 serum continually oozed, until I ceased to observe it. Certainly, a drachm or more 

 of fluid exuded in this manner. On the second day, matters were as before. On 

 the third, the frog was very sluggish. The bitten leg was enormously swollen to 

 the very end of the toes, which, on being held up to the light, were seen to be 

 distended with red serum. The skin of this member was also soaked, in places, 

 with extravasated blood. On the fourth morning, the frog was found to have died 

 during the night. 



P. M. y&c/ion.— Slight rigor mortis. The bitten leg was literally soaked in blood 

 to the extreme edges of the web, and was everywhere swollen by this local accu- 

 mulation. The flexors of the thigh were filled with blood, so as to be dark crim- 

 son throughout their thickness. A little bloody fluid was present in most of the 

 sub-cuticular sacs. The heart was pale, bloodless, and unirritable. The other 

 organs were normal. The nerves and muscles proved to have lost their power to 

 react under stimulus. The little blood found in the vessels was diffluent. As in 

 some other cases, the fluid of the dorsal lymphatic sac coagulated feebly upon expo- 

 sure to the air. 



Experiment. — Temperature 73° F. A small frog was bitten on the back, below the 

 scapula, by a snake about three feet long, which had already used its fangs once 

 within twenty-four hours. The fang-mark was not visible, but from the presence 

 of air in the dorsal sac, I was convinced that the weapon had entered. The 

 muscles about the bitten part immediately began to quiver, and this motion soon 

 extended to both flanks. The frog became rapidly weak, and within an hour and 

 a half could not turn when laid on its back, and was unable to use its hind legs. 

 At this time the pupils were contracted, the eyes half closed, and the lids of the 

 right organ completely insensible, the left one nearly so. The frog shortly after- 

 wards lost all voluntary power, even in the forelegs, but exhibited slight reflex 

 phenomena up to the fifth hour-, when it was apparently dead. 



P. M. Section. — The wound passed through the muscles below the scapula, and 

 into the liver and peritoneal cavity, which contained a little bloody fluid. The 

 heart was beating forty-four to the minute, auricles and ventricle acting. Halt an 

 hour later the auricles alone were acting, and these were arrested during the en- 

 suing period of ten hours, although carefully protected from desiccation. The 

 nerves everywhere were highly irritable, but this passed away completely within 

 half an hour. The muscular irritability remained good during two hours. Ten 

 hours later, no muscle responded to irritants. The small amount of blood found 

 in the heart was fluid. It is to be remarked that, in some of these cases, nothing 



