EXPERIMENTAL VENOM POISONING IN ANIMALS 119 
Wall divides the experimental cases of toxication with this venom into two 
classes, acute and chronic. In the acute cases death takes place within 48 
to 72 hours after the injection of the venom. ‘There is sometimes a slight 
swelling at the point of injection. Profuse salivation and vomiting are usual 
symptoms. Muscular twitching is often observed. The paralysis of respira- 
tion is the cause in these cases. There is no extravasation around the site of 
inoculation and the degree of local swelling is distinctly much milder than in 
cases of cobra poisoning. The effusion of pinkish fluid is seen in the areolar 
tissue at the inoculation spot, indicating the destruction of some of the red 
blood corpuscles. The blood withdrawn from the heart or vene cave of 
the poisoned animals after death clots firmly on exposure to the air. Wall 
calls attention to the remarkable difference in the action of the venom of 
Bungarus fasciatus and that of Naja tripudians in the fact that, with the 
latter venom, if the animal survives 49 hours after the injection it ultimately 
recovers. In contrast to this the venom of Bungarus fasciatus, if used in such 
amounts as not to produce death within 2 to 3 days, brings about a series 
of symptoms quite different from those described in the acute cases. In 
these chronic cases the symptoms begin to manifest themselves in from 2 to 
12 days, and before that period no symptoms’ are seen. After this interval 
of time a diseased condition, more or less active, begins, which, Wall states, 
invariably ends in death. The main symptoms are the loss of appetite, great 
depression, and marked diminution in the urinary secretion. Great muscular 
weakness? is evident, with slight failure of the respiratory functions and an 
irregular rise of temperature. Purulent discharges from the eyes, nose, and 
rectum are also observed. There is no tendency to hemorrhages. Death 
ensues after a few days’ illness. In these chronic cases the coagulability of 
the blood is found to be impaired. 
Lamb found that if a very large amount of the bungarus venom is intro- 
duced directly into the circulation of the blood of rabbits death occurs in a 
few minutes, and post-mortem examination reveals the presence of extensive 
intravascular thrombosis. 
PSEUDECHIS.? 
The effects of the venom of Pseudechis porphyriacus, the Australian black 
snake, are exerted principally on the three most vulnerable points in higher 
organisms: the blood, the heart, and the respiratory center in the medulla 
oblongata. Death can result from the alteration produced in any one of 
these three, and this depends on the concentration with which the venom 
reaches the circulation. When this concentration attains a certain limit, 
death may be almost instantaneous, from coagulation of the blood in the 
vessels terminating the circulation. This happens when small animals are 
bitten, or when the poison is introduced in adequate quantity directly into 
2 i aigh tretes to think that paralysis ag this muscular atrophy. 
3C. J. Martin. On the physiological action of the venom of the Australian black snake (Pseudechis 
porphyriacus). 1895. Read before the Royal Society of New South Wales. 
