248 VENOMS 
and I was able to show that their standard had not perceptibly 
deteriorated. It was only the appearance of the contained liquid 
that was slightly changed; it was discoloured, and when shaken 
small white flakes were seen floating through it. These flakes 
are not a sign of deterioration; they are composed of deposits 
of precipitated albumin. They can be partly dissolved again by 
violent shaking, or they may be separated before use by filtration 
through sterilised paper. 
In a dry state, antivenomous serum may be kept for an almost 
indefinite period, in hermetically sealed glass tubes. In this con- 
dition it is usually divided into doses of 1 gramme, and when it 
is desired to make use of it, it is sufficient to dissolve a dose in 
10 c.c. of water which has been boiled and allowed to cool, which 
takes two or three minutes. This solution is then injected beneath 
the skin, as though it were liquid serum. 
The Pasteur Institute at Lille prepares in this way large 
quantities of antivenomous serum, which are sent all over the 
world to those countries in which poisonous snakes are most 
dangerous. 
Recently, special laboratories for the production of this prepara- 
tion have been instituted at Bombay and at Kasauli, in the Punjab, 
by Drs. G. Lamb and Semple; at Philadelphia, by Professor 
McFarland; at Sao-Paulo, in Brazil, by Dr. Vital Brazil; and 
at Sydney, by Dr. Tidswell. 
Specificity and Polyvalence of Antivenomous Serums.—By means 
of a large number of experiments I have proved that snake-venoms, 
whatever their origin, contain two principal substances: newro- 
toxin, which exerts its effects upon the elements of the nervous 
system, and hemorrhagin (Flexner and Noguchi), or proteolytic 
diastase, the effects of which remain exclusively local when the 
venom is introduced subcutaneously into the cellular tissue, but 
which produces coagulation of the blood when the yenom is 
inected directly into the blood stream, 
