138 ON THE EFFECT OF VARIOUS SUBSTANCES IN 



the circulation. Permanganate of potash, which has been 

 recommended as an antidote, also destroys its activity com- 

 pletely. Chloride of zinc, chloride of mercury, nitrate of silver, 

 and carbolic acid all diminish the activity of the poison, and 

 prolong life when mixed with it before its injection ; but they 

 do not prevent death, nor do they prolong life to any great 

 extent. Perchloride of iron has very much less action upon the 

 poison than one would expect, and it prolongs life to a very 

 slight extent. Liquor potassse impairs the activity of the poison 

 very considerably, and prolongs life for several hours. When 

 a large dose of cobra-poison is injected, none of these substances 

 prevent death, even when applied immediately to the wound. 

 The reason of this probably is that they do not come into such 

 perfect contact with the poison as to destroy the whole of it, 

 and the portion which escapes destruction is sufficient to kill. 

 It is possible, however, that when minimum doses only are 

 injected, the local application of one or other substance may 

 turn the balance between life and death, but this point we 

 must reserve for a future paper. 



Our first experiment was made in order to compare the 

 action of chloride of platinum alone with that of cobra-poison 

 alone, and of chloride of platinum injected after cobra-poison. 



Experiment I. 



February 25th, 1878. — A cat weighing 4 lbs. had about 

 1 c.c. of the chloride of platinum solution of the Britisli 

 Pharmacopa?ia injected into its flank. 



3.44 P.M. Injection completed. 



3.55 „ No apparent effect. The cat well and playful. 



No symptoms whatever were observed, but after some days a 

 slough formed at the point of injection. Chloride of platinum 

 thus appears to have no physiological action whatever when 

 injected subcutaneously, beyond its effect as a local irritant. 



In Experiments II and III similar doses of cobra-poison 

 were subcutaneously injected into two cats ; but in Experi- 

 ment III the injection of the poison was followed immediately 

 by the injection of a solution of chloride of platinum into the 

 same spot, so as, if possible, to destroy the venom which had 



