The Time Setiveen the Bite and Death. 15 



The whole quantit}^ of blood in an adult man is 

 estimated to be 121bs. avoirdupois. The left ventricle 

 of the heart ejects, according to various writers, from 

 6 oz. to 2 oz. at each pulsation. I assume a quantity 

 between these extremes, viz. 3 oz. avoirdupois, and 

 I take the pulsations at 70 per minute, not 72 as in 

 health, but allowing for the probable decline of the 

 pulse after the bite. The question is How long will 

 it take for the whole blood to make one circulation 1 



12 Ibs. avoirdupois 192 oz. 9 



3oz. x 70 pulsations = ~2UToz. ~TO~ ' 



So that in the case of the cobra bite above, the poisoned 

 blood would have circulated at least thirty times, and 

 in the case of the dog eighteen times. No wonder 

 then, that if called to a man, he should show deadly 

 symptoms within a very short time. 



But I must defer the consideration of the time 

 required for the destruction of the coagulability of the 

 blood, until I have to refer to the most remarkable 

 papers by C. J. Martin, M.B., B.Sc. Lond., that, on this 

 subject, I have ever read. In the meantime, I will 

 examine the condition of the blood after death from 

 bites of the viperine and colubrine snakes. I may 

 premise, that I have personally experimented with the 

 poisons of these various snakes. 



(1) The viperine, including the rattle-snake, the 

 adder, the acanthophis of Australia, and the African 

 puff-adder. 



(2) The colubrine, including all Australian snakes, 

 except the acanthophis, which may, so far as a few 

 fangs on the upper maxillary, be regarded as an inter- 

 mediate form, but that is all. 



