NATURE AND ACTION OF VENOM 899 
the neck with a forked stick, and may be handled with im- 
punity, when not too large and powerful, if seized immedi- 
ately behind the head. In case of a strong snake, however, 
the power of constriction is sufficient to paralyze the muscles 
of both arms, as in the case of a person we knew who had 
seized two of these reptiles by the back of the neck. He 
had to be relieved by a bystander. A method employed in 
the South to capture the C. adamanteus is perhaps worthy of 
mention. A silk handkerchief is fastened to the end of a 
pole, which is held toward the reptile, which strikes fiercely 
at it, the fangs and teeth become engaged in the fibre of the 
silk, and a dexterous movement of the stick readily pulls 
out the fangs, and the reptile can be approached with safety.” 
(Coues and Yarrow). 
Tue Nature AND ACTION OF VENOM 
Snake venom is a yellowish or colorless fluid, clear or 
slightly cloudy, odorless and tasteless. It is readily soluble 
in water, and if exposed to the action of putrefactive bacteria 
loses its toxicity within a few days. Dried or preserved in 
alcohol or glycerine it retains its poisonous qualities in- 
definitely, or at least for more than 20 years. Snake venoms 
are complex poisons composed of a number of toxic sub- 
stances of a proteid nature. The symptoms caused by the bites 
of different kinds of poisonous snakes vary with the nature 
and proportions of these toxic proteids which constitute their 
venoms. Thus, the bite of an elapine snake, such as our 
Coral Snake or its relative the cobra, is followed by but 
slight local changes about the part bitten, while great swell- 
ing and local discoloration from capillary haemorrhages 
ordinarily follow the bite of a rattlesnake. The more 
dangerous, systemic, effects of snake bites occur after the 
venom has found its way into the blood. 
