152 BACTERIAL POISONS. 



poison, which is too small to kill the auimal outright, after 

 a certain time may cause death from septicaemia. He says: 

 " The albumose of the snake-poison has apparently so far 

 suppressed the germicidal power of the animal that ordinary 

 decay-producing bacteria can increase and multiply in the 

 blood. Further, it is often remarked that animals killed 

 by a snake-bite putrefy rapidly, as if the bacteria-killing 

 power of the blood-serum had been diminished." A simi- 

 lar statement has been made concerning the action of the 

 poisonous albumose of jequirity seeds. Further investiga- 

 tion must discover how much of truth and how little of 

 error lie in these claims. 



