104 ON THE NATURE AND ACTION OF THE 



was found to be 25 ; and this continued, although the heart 

 had ceased to beat and the thorax was opened. On cutting 

 across the aorta, the pressure fell to zero, showing that it had 

 not been due to any clot in the vessel. 



In this experiment the poison seems to have caused tetanic 

 contraction of the heart, and also of the arterioles. The 

 permanence of the pressure at 25, notwithstanding the stoppage 

 of the heart's action, can only be ascribed to contraction of the 

 arterioles preventing the escape of blood from the arterial into 

 the venous system. 



Excretion of Snake-2')oison. 

 We have made only one or two experiments, ourselves, on 

 the excretion of cobra-venom ; but, from the data afforded by 

 the experiments and observations of others, we consider that it 

 is excreted by the kidneys and mammary glands, and probably 

 also by the salivary glands and mucous membrane of the 

 stomach. A case reported by Mr. Shircore, of Calcutta, in 

 which an infant, suckled by its mother after she had been 

 bitten by a snake (species unknown), died in two hours after 

 it had partaken of the milk, shows that the poison is excreted 

 by the mammary glands, and with considerable rapidity ; for 

 the child took the breast before any marked symptoms had 

 occurred in the mofclier.* Its excretion by the kidneys appears 

 from an experiment of Mr. Richards, of Balasore, who found 

 that some urine from a dog poisoned by the bite of a sea-snake 

 {Enh.ydrina hengalensis) killed a pigeon in 22 hours after being 

 hypodermically injected.t Some saliva, which we obtained 

 from the submaxillary gland of a dog poisoned by cobra- venom, 

 had no effect when injected under the skin of the thigh of a 

 lark ; but Mr. Eichards found that 1 drachm of the greenish 

 liquid which flowed from tiie mouth of a dog poisoned by 

 cobra-venom killed a pigeon in two hours. As this fluid 

 flowed constantly from the mouth, and the animal was paralysed 

 and motionless, it seems probable that, notwithstanding its 

 colour, it was saliva and not bile. 



* Thanatophidia, p. 43. 



t Indian Medical Gazette, May 1, 1873, p. 19. 



