386 THE SNAKES OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



punctures and a ligature applied within five minutes of the in- 

 fliction of the bite, and if proper secondary treatment is carried 

 out, he would, in most instances, recover. It must be remembered, 

 however, that some people die of blood-poisoning even if an 

 exceedingly small quantity of venom should enter their bodies, 

 particularly if they are of intemperate habits. 



COUTY AND LACERDA. 



Drs. Couty and Lacerda carried out a series of experiments 

 with permanganate of potash and snake venom, and found that 

 this salt not only destroyed the poisonous properties of the 

 venom when mixed with it, but also proved an antidote when a 

 one per cent, solution was injected into the tissues at the site 

 of the injection of the snake venom. 



They also found that when both permanganate and venom 

 were separately injected into a vein, no symptoms of poisoning 

 followed ; but if the venom got a start and had already pro- 

 duced symptoms of poisoning the injection of permanganate 

 into a vein had no curative effect. The same result occurred 

 when venom was injected into the tissues and the salt injected 

 after symptoms of poisoning had begun to manifest. Dr. 

 \'incent Richards' experiments and those of Drs. Fayrer, Brunton, 

 and many others bear out the findings of Couty and Lacerda. 



However, it has recently been shown that the injection of 

 solutions of permanganate of potash direct into the veins may 

 cause serious harm if not death, therefore injections of this salt 

 direct into the blood-stream should never be attempted. 



Two Important Facts. 



Two very important facts to be remembered are : perman- 

 ganate, if swallowed, has no effect upon snake venom which 

 has got into the blood, except that it causes a flow of watery 

 substance into that organ and any venom carried with this liquid 

 is rendered inert by the digestive juices. If injected or rubbed 

 into the tissues at the site of the wound ten or more minutes 

 after the infliction of the bite, it is of little or no use as an 

 antidote, although it is useful in cauterizing and disinfecting the 

 bitten part. 



Power of Permanganate of Potash. 

 A large Cobra, Ringhals, Mamba, or Puff Adder is capable 



