VENOM IS DIGESTED. 305 
pours into the Duodenum during the process of digestion, com- 
pletely destroys snake venom. This pancreatic juice, when 
taken from an animal and mixed with snake poison, will com- 
pletely destroy its toxic or poisonous properties if heated to the 
normal temperature of the body. In fact, the venom is digested 
and chemically changed. Careful analysis of the excreta of 
animals fed with snake poison has failed to show any trace of 
venom, therefore it must have been destroyed by the digestive 
juices, or else absorbed into the blood unchanged, in which case 
it would have set up characteristic symptoms of snake venom 
poisoning. 
It is, however, unsafe for human beings to swallow venom, 
as the digestive organs of the majority in civilized communities 
are in anything but a healthy state, and it is quite possible a 
state of catarrh of the inner walls of the stomach or intestines 
may exist. Then, again, if the digestrve organs be weak, the 
gastric and pancreatic juices may not be sufficiently abundant 
or concentrated to digest the venom, which would pass down 
into the intestines, and may possibly get absorbed into the blood. 
If the stomach be ulcerated or otherwise inflamed, snake 
venom is capable of finding its way into the blood through these 
inflamed surfaces. In this case it will have the same effect as 
if injected direct into the blood. 
In most cases of serious illness the digestive apparatus is 
rendered torpid to a greater or lesser degree. This means that 
the Liver, Pancreas, and gastric glands secrete little or no di- 
gestive fluid; consequently, if venom is swallowed at such a 
time, it is either only partially neutralized, or not acted upon 
at all. If it should pass the stomach and enter the small 
intestines without being previously digested by these glandular 
secretions, especially the pancreatic juice, it will probably be 
sucked up by the tiny mouths known as Villi, millions of which 
line the intestine walls. In due time it will find its way into 
the blood and cause poisonous symptoms, the same as if it 
had been absorbed in the ordinary way in cases of snake bite. 
This can be demonstrated by introducing snake venom direct 
into the small intestines of animals, when in an empty condition. 
Cobra venom in this way is absorbed and acts more rapidly than 
Adder venom. 
C. J. Martin mentions that paralysis of the lungs can be 
