SNAKE POISON V. STRYCHNINE. 



By JOSEPH LAUTERER, M.D. 



[Read hefoie the Royal Societi/ of Queensland, October 24th, 1890.'] 



In that part of Germany -where I come from, we have two 

 poisonous snakes, Vipera hcrus and Vipera redii. Fifteen years 

 ago I was practising in the valleys and on the mountains of the 

 Black Forest, and I took much pleasure in hunting these vipers, 

 and used to buy them for some pence from the boys for the 

 purpose of making experiments with the poison on the frog and 

 on rabbits. The viper poison kills (as I found by my experiments) 

 not only when injected under the skin, but also when given by 

 the mouth in any larger doses. Death takes place by paralysis 

 of the muscles of the thorax, paralysis of the diaphragm, and 

 finally of the heart. The central nerves are not paralysed at 

 all ; only the peripheric ends of the nerses in the muscle are 

 are paralysed, and in large doses only the nervuji vagus loses its 

 power to regulate the motion of the heart, and the pressure of 

 the blood in the arterial system. The poison always is carried 

 to the muscles through the blood. If you tie the artery of one 

 hindleg of the fi'og a)ad inject a small dose of viper poison under 

 the skin of the body, the frog gets motionless and apparently 

 dead, only the heart continues to beat, and the leg from which 

 vou kept the blood away moves and tries to scratch any irritating 

 thing away from the body. 'J'he \iper poison is a near relation 

 of the Cunarc (arrow poison), the inspissated juice of Stiychnos 

 to.nfera. To the blood the snake poison generally goes from the 

 place of injection, through the lymphatic vessels, and meets the 



