142 THE VENOMS OF CERTAIN THANATOPHIDE^E. 



Seventy-two hours no appreciable alteration; the blood in tube No. 1 had no 

 unpleasant odor, but all the rest gave decided odors of putrefaction, and were very 

 dark. 



Comparative observations were also made at the same time with different venoms, 

 using as before a fowl to furnish us the blood and the snow pack to retard coagu- 

 lation. 



In test-tube No. 1 was placed | grain dried Moccasin venom in 1 c. c. distilled 

 water. 



In test-tube No. 2 was placed | grain dried Moccasin venom boiled and filtered 

 through clay. 



In test-tube No. 3 was placed \ grain of dried Crotalus venom in 1 c. c. distilled 

 water. 



In test-tube No. 4 was placed \ grain of dried Crotalus venom in 1 c. c. distilled 

 water, heated gradually to 70 C. 



In test-tube No. 5 was placed | grain dried Cobra venom in 1 c. c. distilled water. 



In test-tube No. 6 was placed | grain dried Cobra venom in 1 c. c. distilled water, 

 boiled and filtered through a clay filter. 



In test-tube No. 7 nothing was placed but the pure blood. 



Into each of the test-tubes about 10 c. c. of blood was allowed to flow; at the 

 end of 15 minutes the blood in Nos. 2, 5, 6, and 7 was clotted firmly, and the blood 

 in Nos. 1, 3, and 4 was perfectly fluid. After one hour and a quarter the blocd 

 in No. 1 was clotted in a quite remarkable clot, which was exceedingly elastic the 

 clot when picked up and suspended drew out into a long worm-like thread, and 

 could then be further pulled out to at least double its length, resuming its natural 

 size when placed upon the table. The blood in No. 3 had some very soft clots. 

 In No. 4, the blood was clotted soft. 



On the second day all of the bloods were firmly clotted except Nos. 1, 3, and 4, 

 which were perfectly fluid and had a putrefactive odor, which was absent in the 

 others. On the third day these bloods were clotted and had some dark serum, 

 but the pure blood was clotted firmly and perfectly dry on the surface. 



From these observations it seems clear that the Cobra venom exerts no appreciable 

 effect on the coagulability of the blood of a chicken when thus circumstanced, and 

 that Crotalus and Moccasin venoms act powerfully. Moreover, that the effect of 

 the Crotalus venom is the more efficient, and that if the solutions of venom have 

 been subjected to a degree of heat sufficient to coagulate the venom-globulins, 

 the effect is lessened very greatly. It thus appears that the principle affecting 

 the coagulability of the blood is most largely the globulin. 



It would seem therefore that venom-peptone, although not without power to 

 lessen the coagulability of blood, has not the full efficiency of the globulins. 

 Neither can it be said as to this capacity, that the small percentage of Cobra 

 globulin has even relatively the anti-clotting capacity of the globulins of Crotalus. 



These differences between Cobra and Crotalus show themselves strikingly in the 

 slighter local disorders caused by the Indian serpent. 



The singular formation of an elastic clot was observed in other cases. It ap- 

 peared to be a temporary condition, and to be in a measure due to the great increase 

 in the adhesiveness of the blood corpuscles. 



