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). 



THE 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. 



