EXPERIMENTS ON FOWLS. 417 



Experiments with anti-venene on animals bitten by Cobras, 

 or injected with their venom, were less satisfactory, the reason 

 being that the venoms of these snakes act so rapidly on the 

 nerve-centres of the smaller animals, destroying life before the 

 serum could combine with and destroy the poison. If four drops 

 of Cobra or Mamba venom were mixed with 20 c.c. of the anti- 

 venene and injected into the leg of a dog, or an average-sized 

 monkey, it did not avert a fatal issue. If a Cobra or Mamba 

 (green variety) delivered one full bite and was allowed to retain 

 its hold for a few seconds, the injection under the skin of two 

 doses, viz. 40 c.c. of anti-venene, did not always prevent death. 



From the results of these and many other experiments, I 

 would strongly advise that 30 to 50 c.c. (cubic centimetres) of 

 anti-venene be injected in these cases into the human subject. 

 In fact, in the treatment of very serious cases of Cobra, Ring- 

 hals, and Mamba bite, as much as 100 c.c. (roughly 3I ounces) 

 may be injected. In the great majority of cases I have no 

 doubt that 40 c.c. or even 20 c.c. would save the hfe of the 

 bitten person, as it is not often that a snake is able to dehver 

 a full bite and inject a maximum amount of venom. However, 

 it may do so, and it is as well for everybody to know that 

 40 c.c. of anti-venene may possibly not suffice to effect a cure. 



Experiments on Fowls. 



As already mentioned, the anti-venene which was especially 

 strong in its power of neutrahzing Puff Adder venom, was again 

 experimented with on fowls. I made a freshly caught adult 

 Puff Adder bite through a piece of sheet rubber stretched over 

 the mouth of a wineglass, and thus obtained exactly six drops 

 of venom, absolutely pure. I mixed this with 20 c.c. of anti- 

 venene which had just been received from the laboratory and 

 was in the freshest possible condition, being perfectly transparent. 

 The mixture was thoroughly stirred up and allowed to stand 

 for one hour. It was again stirred up and divided into two 

 equal parts. One part was injected into the muscles of a full- 

 grown healthy fowl, namely, in both thighs and under one wing. 

 The other half was injected in a similar manner into another fowl. 



This was done at 11 a.m. Five hours later, one fowl began 

 to sicken, and its injected wing hung rather loosely. The other 

 fowl seemed quite sound. The follo\ving morning both fowls 



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