306 THE SNAKES OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
Knowing how the venom is carried into the general circula- 
tion, it will be apparent that a 
This is why these glands get tender and swollen 
They divide and sub-divide, and form a vast network under the skin and amongst the 
when injected under the skin. 
Those in the arm converge to the glands in the armpit. 
when the arm or hand is poisoned. 
Fic. 128.—This network of black lines are Lymphatic vessels which have open mouths and help to suck up snake venom 
muscles, 
ligature applied above the 
wound would considerably 
retard the flow of the blood 
and lymph into the body. 
However, great care must 
always be exercised so as 
not to allow a very tight 
ligature to remain on for 
more than half an hour to 
an hour, else the limb may 
mortify. The ligature should 
be slightly loosened for a 
moment at intervals, so as 
to allow the venom to get 
into the circulation so slowly 
that the vital functions may 
be able to cope with, over- 
come, and cast it out before 
it can succeed in paralyzing 
the nerve centres, and thus 
cause death. Much of the 
poison-charged blood may 
be got rid of in the ligatured 
part, by opening one or two 
of the veins which look like 
blue lines under the skin. 
There is no risk of bleed- 
ing to death from an ordi- 
nary surface vein. It is the 
arteries which are difficult to 
stop bleeding when severed. 
They, however, lie deep down 
in the tissues, not just under 
the skin, except at places 
such as the ankle and skull 
where the muscles are thin 
or absent. All the blue-looking blood channels seen under the 
skin are veins. 
