92 MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



at the back of the head, and I had some difficulty in getting* them apart. 

 The head and neck of the bitten serpent rapidly became swollen, but 

 after a time it subsided, and it seemed little the worse for it. More 

 than once I have seen my snakes throw up pellets of fur and feathers 

 similar somewhat to those ejected by the Raptores. 



On July 22. 1897, I was bitten by one of my rattlers. I had long been 

 in the habit of handling several with impunity, but on the evening 

 named. I was routing for one in its blanket to show to some friends, and 

 presumably irritated it, for it struck me on the forefinger. I immed- 

 iately opened the wound with my knife and sucked vigorously for some 

 minutes, until I thought I must have practically extracted all the venom. 

 I would say here, that what I extracted I swallowed, for I know I didn't 

 spit much. I haven't the least fear of the venom taken internally, so 

 long as there is no abrasion of the lips or mouth parts. I then filled 

 the wound with permanganate of potash, rinsed it ou;t and repeated the 

 operation. This was all I did. and I took no whisky. All the same, I 

 soon began to feel the effects of the poison and was compelled to see a 

 doctor. Strychnine pills at last overcame its potency, but I was just 

 as sick as I want to be, and would not go through a similar experience 

 for a good deal.* 



With regard to the snake that was bitten, it could not cast its skin 

 when the time came, and it died. Since then I had an almost exactly 

 similar accident occur, but this time I sucked the wound of the bitten 

 snake and served it the same way as I did my own finger, very much to 

 its disgust, apparently. When the time came for it to shed its skin 

 it had no difficulty in doing so, and did well after. 



NEWTON'S THIRD LAW OF MOTION A FACTOR IN ORGANIC 



EVOLUTION. 



BY MANLY MILES. LANSING, MICH. 

 (Read before the Academy, March 31, 1897.) 



One of the most striking results of progress in the several departments 

 of science is the constantly increasing evidence that they have a common 

 basis in a few fundamental laws of universal application. 



Newton's laws of motion and the principle of the conservation of 

 energy appear to be as significant factors in biological activities and 

 processes as they are in the domain of physics. 



What Grove termed the "affections of matter" (heat, light, etc.) are 

 resolved by physicists into modes of motion, and physiologists are 

 obliged to consider vital activities in their ultimate anahsis from the 

 same standpoint so that matter might be defined as the medium for 

 the transformations of energy in organic as well as in inorganic pro- 

 cesses. 



*[While these pages were passing through the press, on April 6. 1900, Mr. Selous was 

 bitten on the hand by one of his snakes, a water rnoccasin, Agkistrodon piscivorus, 

 from Florida, and in spite of the immediate care of several physicians he died from 

 the effects of the bite after about fifty hours of intense suffering. Ed.] 



