68 Professor Halford. 



" Half a c.c. of this serum, added to 1 milligramme of 

 cobra venom, renders the latter harmless. 



" (7) A control experiment. A rabbit, weighing 2 

 kilos, receiving at the same time as the others 1 milli- 

 gramme of the cobra venom, but without any treatment, 

 was dead in less than three hours. 



" (8) A guinea-pig, weighing \ kilo, was inoculated, 

 under the skin of the right thigh, with 1 milligramme 

 of the venom of the European viper. Five minutes 

 afterwards, 2 c.c. of the serum of the rabbit were 

 injected into the peritoneal cavity. Cured." 



Elsewhere Dr. Calmette says : 



" Since this therapeutical serum is capable of destroy- 

 ing the toxic property of venom, in such extremely 

 sensitive animals as the rabbit and the guinea-pig, may 

 we not be justified in thinking that it would be 

 efficacious in man ? 



" It is necessary, therefore, to make experiments as 

 soon as possible, to enlighten us as to the practical 

 value of this method. The only difficulty that presents 

 itself is, to procure a considerable quantity of divers 

 venoms, so as to render immunity to large animals, as 

 is now done readily with diphtheria and tetanus. This 

 difficulty passes away in countries were venomous 

 snakes abound, as in Australia, the Cape of Good Hope, 

 and above all in India, where, according to the statistics 

 of the British Government, more than twenty-two 

 thousand people succumb annually to the bite of these 

 reptiles. 



" A preventative and therapeutical serum against the 

 venom of the cobra or tiger snake, will be equally 

 effective against the venoms of the viper and black 

 snake. 



