ABSORPTION OF VENOM. 387 
of injecting many times a fatal dose if the bite be full and com- 
plete, but as I have already pointed out the snake does not always 
get an opportunity of driving both its fangs right home into the 
flesh of a human being. 
However, experiments by Dr. Brunton and other well-known 
investigators have shown that although even ten fatal doses be 
injected into a cat or monkey, if the wound be instantly scarified, 
treated with permanganate of potash and ligatured, recovery 
usually took place. The only conclusion we can arrive at from 
the results of these experiments and those of a similar nature which 
I have conducted is, that if a human being be bitten by a veno- 
mous snake, and even ten ordinary fatal doses of venom injected, 
the person would recover if promptly treated with permanganate 
of potash and ligatures. I cannot, however, claim that the 
prompt application of permanganate and ligatures always saved 
the lives of the bitten animals. About sixty per cent. recovered. 
Those not treated always died. The animals which usually died 
were those fully bitten by Cobras or injected with fifteen or more 
fatal doses of their venom. 
ABSORPTION OF VENOM. 
It has been asserted that the venom, after injection into the 
tissues, enters the circulation so rapidly that local applications 
would be futile. This has been proven to be the case with such 
animals as fowls, rabbits, and guinea pigs, whose organizations 
are extremely sensitive to the venom of snakes, but not neces- 
sarily so with higher animals, except, of course, when a vein 
is punctured, or an unusually large dose of venom is injected. 
When venom is injected into the tissues, for the first few 
seconds rapid absorption takes place, owing to the intense 
irritation of the venom on the walls of the capillary blood vessels 
and the mouths of the lymphatics. 
However, the tissues around the punctures quickly become 
congested, and absorption of the venom then occurs more slowly. 
The application of permanganate of potash not only destroys 
all the venom it actually comes in contact with in the wounds, 
but owing to its cauterizing action, the power of absorption from 
the parts thus treated, is practically stopped. 
