216 



TOXINES AND ANTITOXINES. 



ELLIOT, SILLAR, and CARMiCHAEL 1 found the lethal dose per 

 kilo, of body weight of the venom of Bungarus coeruleus to be 

 as follows: Frogs, O5 mgrm.; rats, 1-0 mgrm.; and rabbits, 

 0'08 mgrm. 



According to ERASER and ELLIOT 2 the lethal dose per kilo, of 

 body weight of the venom of the sea-snake (Enhydrina) is 0'09 

 mgrm. for rats, O06 mgrm. for rabbits, and 0'2 mgrm. for cats. 



Guinea-pigs are thus twice as susceptible as rabbits. The dog 

 is still less susceptible. The pig, hedgehog, and the mongoose 

 (Herpestes)) a small carnivorous mammal, are almost refrac- 

 tory. It required not less than 8 mgrms. of cobra poison to 

 kill a mongoose. The hedgehog is but little affected by the 

 bite of, at all events, the viper. According to PHISALIX and 

 BERTRAND 1 forty times the lethal dose for a guinea-pig is 

 required. The blood of the hedgehog itself is then poisonous, 

 but this toxicity disappears on heating. 



Snakes themselves, whether poisonous or harmless, are almost 

 immune, though not absolutely so, as, for example, the ring- 

 adder, for which the lethal dose is 0*03 grm. (ERASER, 3 PHISALIX 



and BERTRAND 4 ). 



Fishes, lizards, and worms are also not completely immune. 



Most snake poisons also produce, like other toxines, severe 

 local effects, such as violent inflammation, oedema, haemorrhage, 

 and even necroses. 



These local inflammatory effects, however, do not appear to be 



1 Elliot, Sillar, and Carmichael, "Action of the Venom of the Bungarus 

 cc&ndeus," Lancet, 1904, ii., 142. 



2 Fraser and Elliot, Lancet, 1904, 141. 



3 Fraser, "Immunity against Snake Poison," Brit. Med. Journ. t 1895, i., 

 1309. 



4 Phisalix and Bertrand, "Glandes venimeuses chez les couleuvres," 

 Soc. Biol, xlvi., 8, 1894; xlvii., 639, 1895. 



