140 



THE VENOMS OF CERTAIN THAN AT OPHITES. 



SLOW POISONING. 

 Effects of Venom upon the Tissues of the Living Animal. 



The following lesions may be mentioned as peculiar to retarded or slow poison- 

 ing: Rigor mortis often absent. The blood, usually diffluent, is very dark and 

 does not readily acquire the scarlet-red color when exposed to the air. There 

 are prominent blood-stained effusions in all the serous sacks. (Plate V.) Urine 

 and faeces often bloody. Hemorrhages beyond the local lesion much more conspicu- 

 ous than in the rapid poisoning. The remote lesions of slow poisoning resemble 

 very much (morphologically) the primary local lesion, but are not so extensive or 

 so well defined. In general the conditions of slow venom poisoning resemble those 

 of acute septic poisoning. It is very often impossible to draw a distinct line between 

 the manifestations of rapid and slow poisoning, nevertheless the division is in prac- 

 tice convenient. 



One case of very protracted slow poisoning was observed in a pigeon which had 

 been injected with venom in the pectoral muscle. (See Experiment 24, Table 

 Slow Poisoning.) 



Instead of the usual gangrenous change there was seen in this case after the 

 lapse of two weeks a decided dry atrophy of the muscular tissue about the wound. 

 Its fibres were greatly diminished in size as compared with the opposite unaffected 



