April 23. 1896] 



NATURE 



597 



were obtained in the most favourable conditions for securing the 

 intal quantity ejected at a single bite, whereas in actual practice 

 the conditions are less favourable for the insertion of the total 

 a\ailable venom into the tissues of the victim. 



Reverting now to determinations of the minimum-lethal dose 

 I 1 ihe lower animals, we find that if the minimum-lethal dose 



;he cat be adopted as being the same as that for man, the 



1 quantity of dry cobra-venom required to kill a man of ten 



.lies weight would be •317 gramme, which is considerably 



more than the quantity, judging from the above averages, that 



a cobra is usually able to eject during a single bite. It would 



therefore appear necessary to assume that the minimum-lethal 



(li)se ]>er kilogramme for man is smaller than for a cat ; but, as 



ii is probably greater than for a rabbit, we may for convenience 



-ume that it is twice that dose. In this case, the smallest 



ntity required to produce death in a man of ten stones would 



about '0317 gramme, which, however, seems to be consider- 

 aMy less than the quantity which a fresh cobra has at its dis- 

 1 iii^al. Applying now the facts that have been stated in the 

 series of experiments where the smallest quantity of antivenene 

 required to prevent death when injected thirty minutes after 

 twice the minimum-lethal dose was determined, it will be re- 

 (oilected that that quantity is 5 cc. per kilogramme of animal. 

 Taking this as a basis for the dose of antivenene, in order to 

 ]>revent death in man from the estimated minimum-lethal dose 

 of cobra- venom, so considerable a quantity as 330 cc, or about 

 \\\ ounces, of antivenene would be required, if the antivenene 

 be injected not much longer than thirty minutes after the bite 

 had been inflicted. This, though a large, is by no means an 

 imp')ssible dose, and it could, without much inconvenience, be 

 iiUroduced under the skin at several parts of the body. 



On the other hand, the estimate which I have adopted of the 

 minimum-lethal dose for man may be too high a one, and if it 

 should prove to be nearer that for the rabbit, then the quantity 

 of antivenene required to prevent death, if administered half an 

 hour after the snake-bite, would be reduced to about four ounces. 

 It is also to be recollected that if dry antivenene be used, it may 



'lissolved in a much smallerquantity of liquid than is required 



) estore it to its original bulk. 



As to the probability, in a fatal snake-bite, of the quantity of 

 venom received by the victim being only about, and not much 

 in excess of, the minimum-lethal dose, it would appear that, in 

 many cases, even so large a dose is not introduced ; for general 

 experience indicates that the majority of persons who are bitten 

 actually recover, whatever treatment is adopted. Sir Joseph 

 Fayrer also shows, in his classical " Thanatophidia," that in 

 64 per cent, of fatal cases of snake-bite in India, the victims 

 survived the infliction of the bite for periods of from three to 

 twenty-four hours ; and this duration of life implies that the 

 dose of venom received, could not have been much greater than 

 the minimum-lethal. 



It must be admitted, however, that even for the minimum- 

 lethal dose of venom, the quantity of antivenene required to 

 prevent death in man is probably inconveniently large, especially 

 if, in the treatment, reliance is placed solely upon the adminis- 

 tration of antivenene, to the exclusion of all or several of the 

 auxiliary measures to which I have referred. It is desirable, al.so, 

 that the antivenene treatment should be a practical one, not 

 only for doses of venom which do not much exceed the minimum- 

 lethal, but also for the considerably larger doses that are occa- 



nally introduced in snake-bite. 



Id attain this object, further work is required in order that 



le may be obtained an antivenene even more powerful than 

 whose antidotal capabilities I have described. 



I am not sanguine that this will be accomplished by carrying 



I higher degree the process of artificial protection in animals. 



I omparison of the antivenene of rabbits which had last 

 ived thirty times the minimum-lethal dose of cobra venom 



ii that of other rabbits which had last received fifty times 



it dose, has shown that the latter has but little antidotal 

 antage over the former, and has suggested that, in the pro- 



> of artificial protection, the saturation point of the blood for 

 venene is reached before the possible maximum non-fatal 



-e of venom has been administered. 



1 would anticipate with more hope the results of endeavours 

 to separate the true antivenomous principles from the inert con- 

 stituents of the blood-serum with which they are mixed ; and 

 although the required chemical manipulations are attended with 

 many difficulties, some success has already been obtained in 

 effecting this separation. 



In the foregoing remarks, it has, however, been shown that 

 even with the antivenene whose properties have been described, 

 human life may be saved in a considerable, if not in a large, 

 proportion of the cases of snake-bite, which would otherwise 

 terminate in death. The attainment of this result is a satis- 

 factory one ; for the mortality from snake-bite is large, and is 

 not restricted to the 20,000 deaths which annually occur in 

 India, but includes additional thousands in all the tropical and 

 sub-tropical regions of the world. Thcmas R. Fraser. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



The Drapers' Company have voted ^^50 to Mr. Percy 

 Williams, a student at University College, London, towards 

 paying his expenses of post-graduate study. Mr. Williams was 

 placed first in honours in his chosen faculty at the B.Sc. Examina- 

 tion of last year in connection with the London University. 



It is stated that the total subscriptions promised for the new 

 building fund of the University College of South Wales and 

 Monmouthshire amounts to over ;^ 16,000. The Treasury has 

 authorised the payment of ^^10,000 to the building fund, this 

 being half the sum promised by her Majesty's Treasury on 

 condition that ^20,000 was collected in South Wales and 

 Monmouthshire by July next. 



The University of Utrecht will celebrate its " 260th 

 lustrum " during the month of June next. The occasion will be 

 rendered specially interesting by the/^/^.r which will be given by 

 the students, and which will include their traditional masquerade 

 and an elaborate old world tournament. It is expected that the 

 ancient city will be visited by numerous strangers during the 

 commemoration. 



A MUNICIPAL school of Science and art was opened at 

 Bideford on Wednesday, April 15. For some time past 

 instruction in science and art has been given with great difficulty 

 in ill-fitted and unsuitable rooms. The cost of the new school 

 will be about ^3000, towards which the County Council have 

 contributed ;.^S00 (with a promise of £-]^ towards science 

 apparatus), the Science and Art Department will grant ;i^650, 

 and a penny rate has yielded £^<X). 



We learn from the Athenmtm that the Committee of the 

 Aberdeen University Council, which has been considering 

 measures for the extension and better endowment of the 

 university, has issued a report enumerating, "among its more 

 pressing wants," the enlargement of the library, laboratory, and 

 museums, a botanic garden, residential halls for both sexes, seven 

 new professorships, and fifteen lectureships. The report also 

 advises the establishment of an Aberdeen University Association, 

 on the model of the Edinburgh Association. 



On Tuesday, April 14, the Right Hon. Sir William Hart- 

 Dyke visited Bath and opened the northern wing of the new 

 municipal buildings which has been appropriated to the purpose 

 of technical schools. The building, which cost ;^30,ooo, was 

 commenced about eighteen months ago, and comprises four 

 floors. The basement consists of workshops and mechanical 

 and electrical laboratories ; the ground-floor includes large and 

 small lecture-rooms, and accommodation for the library and 

 lecturers' and director's rooms. The first-floor constitutes the 

 school of art, while the second-floor contains a domestic depart- 

 ment and chemical and physical laboratories. 



A CoNFERERCE on Secondary Education was opened on Tues- 

 day in the Senate House, Cambridge, under the presidency of the 

 Vice-Chancellor of the University. A resolution generally 

 approving of the scheme set forth in the report of the Royal 

 Commission on Secondary Education, and expressing a hope 

 that legislative measures in accordance with that report would 

 be passed, was carried by 128 to 41 votes. A resolution approv- 

 j ing the establishment of local authorities for secondary education 

 was also carried, after considerable discussion. Resolutions were 

 subsequently agreed to in favour of the establishment of a 

 separate central authority for secondary education, and of the 

 preservation of the freedom, variety, and elasticity which have 

 hitherto characterised secondary education in England. 



The following are among recent appointments abroad : — Dr. 

 Paul Czcrm^iV, frivat-doi-enl in Physics in Gratz University, to 

 be extraordinary professor ; Mr. James Edwin Lough to be 



NO. 1382, VOL. 53] 



