504 THE SNAKES OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
blood is nothing more nor less than the loss of fluid to keep the 
heart stimulated. 
Pure water is never injected, either direct into a vein or under 
the skin for any purpose, for the reason that it causes pain and 
irritation. Salt must always be added to it. 
When any parts of the body of an animal are required for 
study, such as nerves or portions of muscles, if they are placed in 
pure water they soon die, but if immersed in a saline solution they 
will keep alive for hours, only to die of starvation eventually. 
For instance, if a snake is killed and the heart is at once taken 
out and placed in pure water, it will very soon cease to beat, 
but if put into a saline solution it will continue to beat for a long 
time—often a whole day. 
Thus it will be seen what a valuable aid we have in the saline 
solution, in the treatment of snake bite, in the absence of anti- 
venene serum. 
INJECTING AMMONIA FOR SNAKE BITE. 
The Eastern Province Herald, Port Elizabeth, recently had the 
following: “ Lecturing recently at Durban before the Natal 
Scientific Society on “Some Snakes and their Poison,’ Dr. Schulz 
explained that while alcohol applied externally and internally 
had been proved ineffective, and caustic potash injected on the 
bite also failed to cure, the strongest solution of ammonia diluted 
to one-half with water had scored unfailing success as poison 
-destroyer. He mentioned three cases of cure’ by this means, 
and had no failures to record. A hypodermic syringe and two 
half-ounce bottles of diluted ammonia, the second a reserve 
bottle, could be packed up in the space occupied by a match-box.” 
RESULT OF EXPERIMENTS ON THIS THEORY. 
Diluting the ammonia, as stated above, I tested the solution 
on various animals, but it exerted absolutely no curative effect. 
If an animal was injected with a fatal dose of venom, it always 
died, although the ammonia solution was injected effectively 
in and around the site of the punctures. 
Then, taking three drops of Puff Adder venom, I mixed it 
