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CHAPTER VII. 
PHYSIOLOGY OF POISONING (continued). 
EFFECTS OF THE VARIOUS VENOMS ON THE DIFFERENT TISSUES 
OF THE ORGANISM. 
THE physiological effects of the various venoms are very 
different from those that we have just described, when these 
toxic substances are introduced into the organism otherwise than 
subcutaneously. 
Their direct penetration into the blood-stream, whether by 
the bite of the snake itself or by experimental intravenous injec- 
tion, always produces immediate results. With the venoms of 
VIPERID®, coagulation of the blood and, consequently, death are 
almost instantaneous. With the venoms of COLUBRID, which, 
on the contrary, destroy the coagulability of the blood, the toxic 
effects are less rapid, but after the lapse of only a few minutes 
asphyxia ensues and the death-struggle is very short. 
Absorption by the serous membranes is slower, but is never- 
theless effected much more quickly than when it takes place in 
the subcutaneous cellular tissue. When cobra-venom is injected 
into the peritoneal cavity of a rabbit or a guinea-pig, the local 
effects upon the serous membrane are almost nil. No leucocytic 
exudation is observed; death supervenes before this has had 
time to take place. The venoms of VipERID#, on the contrary, 
produce, directly after their introduction into the peritoneum, an 
enormous afflux of sanguinolent serosity; the capillary vessels 
of the serous membrane, immediately becoming distended, allow 
the blood to filter through their walls, and the animal suecumbs 
