4i8 THE SNAKES OF SOUTH AFRICA 



seemed sick and weak. I examined them and found that the 

 injected thighs and wings were swollen to nearly twice their 

 normal size, and considerable haemorrhage in those parts had 

 taken place. 



For three days the fowls remained in about the same con- 

 dition, when one recovered its normal cheerfulness and seemed 

 well. I examined it and found that the swellings had sub- 

 sided, and the \dcinity of the injections were not so purphsh as 

 before. . Three days later the parts were greenish-yellow in 

 appearance, indicating that the dead blood under the skin and 

 in the muscles was being rapidly re-absorbed. 



The other fowl did not fare so well. Evidently it had re- 

 ceived a shghtly larger dose of venom than the other fowl, or 

 else it was more susceptible to the poison. Both its limbs 

 became paralysed, o\\ing mainly to extensive hsemorrhage under 

 the skin of the thighs. 



On the sixth day after the injection, it began to recover 

 the use of its legs. I then killed it and made a careful 

 examination. I found that the skin on both thighs was dead 

 and came away when I pulled it, revealing a mass of coffee- 

 coloured matter, practically dry, underneath. This was the 

 residue of the blood which had oozed out of the blood-vessels. 

 The flesh under this, for nearly a quarter of an inch deep, was 

 dark brown, and in a jelly-like condition. Beneath this layer 

 the flesh was perfectly sound. The healing processes were well 

 proceeding, and the fowl would have, no doubt, made a complete 

 recovery. On examination, the flesh of the breast was stained 

 with blood in small patches, o^ving to shght haemorrhage through 

 the capillary blood-vessels of those parts. 



The anti-venomous serum which is now prepared is of higher 

 efficiency m destroying snake venom, and 20 c.c. are sufficient in 

 the majority of cases of snake bite if treatment has not been 

 unduly delayed. If very serious symptoms have already set in 

 40 c.c. ought to be injected in different parts of the body imder 

 the skin. 



Anti-Venomous Serum and its Preparation. 



The preparation of anti-venomous serum is slow, tedious, 

 and expensive, and the revenue received for serum disposed of 

 seldom covers the cost of its production. 



