1874.] Poison of Indian Venomous Snakes. 117 



Experiment LXI. 



October 29th, 1872. To ascertain if a mixture of strychnia and woorara 

 produced the same effect as cobra-poison, a guineapig weighing 1 Ib. was 

 experimented upon. 



2.36.30. One cubic centimetre of a solution of woorara (1 in 1000) 

 was injected under the skin of the side. 



2.54. As the first dose seemed to produce little effect, another cubic 

 centimetre was injected in the same way as before. 



2.56. A drop or two of Liquor Strychnise (4 grs. to 1 fl. oz.) was in- 

 jected into the side. 



2.57. Twitching motions of the body begin. (They were not exactly 

 like those produced by cobra-poison.) 



2.58. The animal has fallen over on its side and is paralyzed, but the 

 twitching continues. 



3.2. The animal is dead. No convulsions. On opening the animal 

 the heart was found contracting vigorously. 



Electrodes were inserted in the spinal column and the cord irritated by 

 an induced current. The limbs contracted when irritation was applied to 

 the cord. The sciatic nerve was exposed and irritated by an induced cur- 

 rent. The muscles of the limb contracted. 



3.9. Heart still contracts feebly. The lungs are congested. 



Action of Cobra-poison on the Stomach and Intestines. 



One of the most noticeable symptoms of cobra-poisoning in dogs is 

 vomiting of a violent, repeated, and most distressing kind ; and it is also 

 present in cats and guineapigs, though to a less degree. Its occurrence 

 in guineapigs is somewhat extraordinar} 7 -, as these animals very rarely 

 vomit, and, according to Schiff, only do so after their vagi have been di- 

 vided ; whereas other animals which vomit under ordinary circumstances 

 are then unable to vomit at all. The nervous centre by which the move- 

 ments of vomiting are originated is closely connected with the respiratory 

 centre, and it may be set in action by stimuli conveyed to it by the 

 branches of the vagus distributed to the stomach and other intestinal 

 organs, and also through the pharyngeal branches, either of the vagus or, 

 possibly, of the glosso-pharyngeal nerve. The brain can also excite it ; but 

 the vomiting it produces is not usually prolonged. The vomiting which 

 occurs in cobra- poisoning is, in all probability, due, in part, to irritation of 

 the gastric or abdominal branches of the vagus but not altogether ; for 

 the attempts to vomit continued in Experiment LXIV. after that nerve 

 had been divided in the neck ; and the failure to bring any thing up is 

 to be attributed to the cardiac aperture of the stomach failing to dilate 

 at the proper time a result which usually occurs after section of the 

 vagus. 



In Experiment XL1V. there was intense congestion of the mucous 

 membrane of the stomach ; but this does not occur in all cases. It could 



K2 



