108 ON THE NATURE AND ACTION OF THE 



and these also occurred spontaneously. The animal also 

 became more or less sensible, and the eyelids twitched when 

 the finger was merely brought near the eye. 



These phenomena show that the muscles, the motor nerves, 

 the secreting nerves, the spinal cord, and the cerebrum had all 

 recovered their functions to a certain degree, after it had been 

 completely abolished for sixteen hours. This, we think, would 

 not have been the case had the poison acted by decomposing 

 the tissues in the manner of a ferment ; and we are therefore 

 inclined to hope that, like curare, it acts only while present 

 in the system, and that its injurious effects may be arrested by 

 its removal. 



Notwithstanding the fair promise of recovery which the use 

 of artificial respiration gave in this instance, the heart became 

 weaker, and the animal died 24 hours and 35 minutes after 

 its first apparent decease. Nor has the Committee been more 

 successful in its further experiments, although life has been 

 prolonged for even 30 hours. This result shows that, although 

 artificial respiration may still prove useful in sustaining life 

 and affording time for the use of other measures, it alone is not 

 likely to be of much service in preventing death from snake- 

 bite, except in those cases where the quantity of poison is just 

 enough to kill and no more. 



It is evident from the length of time during which life may 

 be maintained without the animal ultimately recovering, that 

 the excretion of the poison is very slow ; but we at one time 

 thought to quicken it by the employment of diuretics and 

 sialogogues, and to prevent reabsorption by draining off the 

 urine and saliva constantly. We also proposed to wash out 

 the stomach from time to time, in order to remove any poison 

 which might be excreted through the gastric walls, keeping it 

 partially filled with milk or other nutrient fluid during the 

 intervals, in order to sustain the strength of the animal. 



We are by no means certain that some of these methods 

 may not prove useful adjuncts ; but as our hope of stimulating 

 excretion, l)y the salivary glands at least, has been much 

 lessened by our discovery that the poison paralyses the nerves 

 of secretion, we are inclined to think that, perhaps, the readiest 



