Biological Papers. 219 



or with my spectacle case. At last, becoming a little careless, I 

 used my hand instead of the artificial tools. In one of these care- 

 less movements I was struck in the ball of the right thumb by one 

 of the indignant reptiles, receiving six incisions, four of which were 

 of considerable depth, from which the blood flowed in considerable 

 quantities. Fortunately the jaws did not close upon the thumb so 

 that there was no crushing eflPect produced. I sucked the blood 

 from the wounds until one of my associates, Mr. L. A. Adams, who 

 had some years ago suffered severely from a rattlesnake bite, pro- 

 vided me with a vial of permanganate of potash, which was kept in 

 contact with the wounds for about an hour. No evidence what- 

 ever of poisonous effect from this bite was to be detected, and I 

 began to doubt the venomous character of the reptiles, since, not- 

 withstanding the prompt application of the proper remedies, it 

 seemed inevitable that at least some faint trace of the poison should 

 have been left. But unless the Gila monster were in fact a venom- 

 ous reptile, how could its universal bad reputation be accounted 

 for ? I think I may say that, without a single exception, the resi- 

 dents of Arizona and Sonora believe the bite of the Heloderma to 

 be a very a dangerous infliction, and several instances were circum- 

 stantially related to me of ranchmen and cowboys who had suf- 

 fered untold agonies and had narrowly escaped death after one of 

 its vicious attacks. 



Since my return from the expedition which gave me this un- 

 usual experience I have been looking up the literature of the sub- 

 ject, and have had correspondence with some high authorities. 

 Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, of Philadelphia, writes as follows : "This 

 beast bites and lets go, and there is no result. The poison acts 

 when it cheios on the animal it bites." An article by Doctor 

 Mitchell and Dr. Edward T. Reichert in the Medical News (vol. 

 XLII, p. 209) gives the results of careful experiments by injecting 

 the saliva of the Gila monster into pigeons, rabbits, and frogs. The 

 following conclusions are reached : 



"That the poison of Heloderma causes no local injury. That 

 it arrests the heart in diastole and that the organ afterwards con- 

 tracts slowly — possibly in rapid vigoi' mortis. 



"That the cardiac muscle loses its irritability to stimulate at the 

 time it ceases to beat. 



"That the other muscles and the nerves respond readily to irri- 

 tants. 



"That the spinal cord has its power annihilated abruptly and re- 

 fuses to respond to the most powerful electrical currents." 



