THE SERUM TREATMENT AND ITS LIMITATIONS. 399 
faith is misplaced in spite of apparent recoveries from snake 
bite after the administration of one or other of these “ cures.”’ 
THE SERUM TREATMENT AND ITS LIMITATIONS. 
The serum treatment for snake bite is yet initsinfancy. Many 
difficulties beset the path of the scientific investigator. The 
main obstacle is the difficulty of obtaining sufficient venom, 
and the extreme care which is required to be exercised in the 
process of rendering animals immune. Even with the greatest 
care, the horses and mules which are usually used as subjects do 
not survive the ordeal. At other times frightful ulcers form at 
the seat of the injection of venom, and frequently the flesh 
sloughs away more or less extensively. The aim is to make the 
animal immune to as large a dosage of the mixed venoms of 
various species of snakes as possible. 
For instance, the serum from a horse which has been rendered 
immune to a hundred ordinarily fatal doses of venom is twice 
as strong in its venom-killing powers as the serum from a 
horse which is immune to fifty ordinarily fatal doses of venom. 
Every year progress is made, and there can be little doubt 
that before long a better method of immunizing animals will 
be discovered, and a much stronger anti-venom serum will be 
prepared. 
The anti-venene now prepared is the only substance which’ 
is of any value in destroying snake venom after it has entered 
the blood circulation. The more copiously it is injected the 
better chance there will be of recovery. If the venom has begun 
its onslaught upon the nerve centres or blood, or both, liberal 
quantities of serum will need to be injected to overtake and 
neutralize its death-dealing powers. I would advise medical 
practitioners to inject not less than 25 c.c. direct into a vein 
if symptoms of poisoning have already set in, and to inject a 
second dose after an interval. Those, other than medical men, 
should carefully practise injecting water into dead animals’ 
veins and under the skin, so that they may know exactly what 
to do and how to do it should occasion arise. A dead plucked 
fowl is a good subject to practise upon. If a little permanganate 
is added to the water previous to injection under the skin, it 
