164 VENOMS 
with the solution of proteid, while the other served as control. 
The two small incisions, one on either side of the median line, 
were then sutured and covered with collodion. In this way the 
maximum of local effect and the minimum of general effects 
was obtained. The solutions of albumoses introduced by this 
method into the organism produced an enormous œdema, which, 
in from six to eight hours, extended along the whole side of the 
abdomen containing the sponge charged with poison. 
To test the general toxic effects, the solutions were injected 
into a vein or into the peritoneal cavity. It was thus found that 
the prote- and hetero-albumoses killed the animals in a few hours. 
It must therefore be concluded from these facts that the active 
principles of venom are proto- and hetero-albumoses, the albumins 
that it contains being devoid of all toxic power. 
Many chemical substances modify or destroy venoms, and we 
shall see in another chapter that several of them, by reason of 
their properties, may be very usefully employed for the destruction, 
in the actual wound resulting from a venomous bite, of the venom 
that has not yet been absorbed in the circulation. 
Among these substances the most important are :— 
A | per cent. solution of permanganate of potash (Lacerda). 
À 1 per cent solution of chloride of gold (Calmette). 
Chloride of lime or even-hypochloride of calcium (Calmette), 
in a solution of 1 in 12, which is augmented, at the moment of 
use, by 5 to 6 volumes of distilled water, so as to bring it to 
the standard strength of about 850 cubic centimetres of active 
chlorine per litre of solution. 
A 1 per cent. solution of chromic acid (Kaufmann). 
Saturated bromized water (Calmette). 
A 1 per cent. solution of trichloride of iodine (Calmette). 
All these chemical bodies also modify or destroy the diastases 
and the microbic toxins. The venoms, although more resistant 
to the influence of heat, behave, therefore, like these latter, and 
exhibit the closest affinity with them. Moreover, like all the 
