346 VENOMS 
“On May 29 and following days the cedema continued to dim- 
inish, and had totally disappeared eight or ten days later. 
“Recovery was complete by about June 15. The child was 
discharged on June 23, 1904. 
“Tt seemed to us worth while to report this case, in order to 
emphasise the conclusion that forces itself upon us, namely that 
in all cases of bites from poisonous snakes an injection of Calmette’s 
serum should be given, without considering the efficacy of this 
therapeutic agent as being rendered doubtful by the length of time 
that may have elapsed since the bite was inflicted. 
‘In the present case, as we have seen, there was extensive 
intoxication, which had seriously affected the functions of the 
various organs, since we found cardiac arhythmia and pulmonary 
cedema, and that the patient was threatened with collapse, algidity, 
hypothermia, and anuria. Impregnation by the virus having 
continued for seven hours, we might have felt ourselves justified, 
on the one hand in merely employing the proper means for the 
relief of the general condition, on the other hand in treating the 
local condition, without having recourse to the serotherapeutic 
method, that seems to us in this case, in so far as it is permissible 
to make such a statement, to have been the determining factor in 
the recovery.” 
XXVI.—Case recorded by Dr. Lapeyre, of Fontainebleau (from 
L'Abeille de Fontainebleau of June 27, 1902). 
M. X., who arrived at Fontainebleau on Sunday morning with 
a friend, keeps grass snakes at home, in Paris; he finds his hobby 
as good a means as any other to remind him of the forest and its 
charms. Human nature includes all kinds of tastes, so that this 
particular one need not be further discussed. 
“The journey, therefore, had a twofold object: firstly to spend 
a whole day in sunshine and in the open air, and secondly to 
catch grass snakes to add to the collection. 
‘On leaving the train, our Parisian walked up the Amélie Road, 
and saw a snake under a rock. Never doubting that it was one 
