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CHAPTER VI. 
THE PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION OF SNAKE-VENOMS. 
A.—PHYSIOLOGY OF POISONING IN MAN AND IN ANIMALS BITTEN 
BY THE DIFFERENT SPECIES OF POISONOUS SNAKES. 
(Colubride ; Viperide ; Hydrophiide.) 
THE bites of poisonous snakes produce very different effects 
according to the species of snake, the species to which the animal 
bitten belongs, and according to the situation of the bite. It is 
therefore necessary to take these various factors into account, in 
describing the symptoms of poisoning in different animals. 
When the quantity of venom introduced into the tissues by 
the bite of the reptile is sufficient to produce fatal results—which 
is happily not always the case—the venom manifests its toxic action 
in two series of phenomena: the first of these is local and affects 
only the seat and surroundings of the bite; the second, or general 
series, 1s seen in the effects produced upon the circulation and 
nervous system. 
It is remarkable to find how great is the importance of the local 
disorders when the venomous reptile belongs to the Solenoglypha 
group (VIP£RIDÆ), while it is almost nil in the case of the Protero- 
glypha (COLUBRIDÆ and HYDROPHIIDÆ). 
The effects of general intoxication, on the contrary, are much 
more intense and more rapid with the venom of Proteroglypha, 
than with that of Solenoglypha. 
In considering the usual phenomena of snake-poisoning in man, 
we must therefore take this essential difference into account, and 
