174 PHYTOTOXINS AND ZOOTOXINS 



placed in the stomach causes ordinarily no harm whatever, but 

 if a loop of the intestine is isolated, a fistula established and 

 allowed to heal, venom introduced through this opening always 

 produces death. It is probably not the pepsin and hydrochloric 

 acid that destroys the venom, but the trypsin. If the bile-duct 

 is ligated, the venom is destroyed just the same. Much of the 

 venom seems to be eliminated into the stomach, no matter how 

 it is introduced into the system, and apparently it is also partly 

 excreted by the kidneys. Rattlesnake venom seems not to be 

 absorbed through mucous membranes. 



Physiological Action. As indicated in the preceding 

 paragraph, the eifects of the bites of different classes of snakes 

 are quite different. Langmann describes the symptoms as 

 follows : 



Cobra Poisoning. " Within an hour, on an average, the first con- 

 stitutional symptoms appear : a pronounced vertigo, quickly followed 

 by weakness of the legs, which is increased to paraplegia, ptosis, falling 

 of the jaw with paralysis of the tongue and epiglottis ; at the same time 

 there exists an inability to speak and swallow, with fully preserved sen- 

 sorium. The symptoms thus resemble those of an acute bulbar paralysis. 

 The pulse is of moderate strength until a few minutes after the cessation 

 of respiration ; the latter becomes slower, labored, and more and more 

 superficial until it dies out almost imperceptibly. Death occurs at the 

 latest within fifteen hours ; in 32 per cent, of all cases in three hours. 

 There are very few local changes." 



Viper Poisoning. " After the bite of a viper the local changes are 

 most pronounced ; there are violent pains in the bleeding wound, hem- 

 orrhagic discoloration of its surroundings, bloody exudations on all the 

 mucous membranes, and hemoglobinuria. Usually somewhat later than 

 in cobra poisoning constitutional symptoms develop ; viz., great prostra- 

 tion with nausea and vomiting, blood pressure falls continuously, and 

 respiration grows slow and stertorous. After a temporary increase in 

 reflexes, paresis supervenes, with paraplegia of the lower extremities, 

 extending in an upward direction and ending in a complete paralysis. 

 It therefore resembles an acute ascending spinal paralysis. If the 

 patient recovers from the paralysis, a septic fever may develop ; not 

 rarely there remain suppurating gangrenous wounds, which heal 

 poorly." 



It will be noticed that there is lacking the usual period of 

 incubation that follows injection of bacterial toxins, and if it 

 happens that the venom has been injected directly into one of 

 the veins, death may occur within a few minutes. When re- 

 covery occurs, the disappearance of symptoms is remarkably 

 abrupt, within a few hours a desperately sick person becoming 

 almost entirely free from all evidences of the intoxication. 



Pathological Anatomy. Postmortem examination shows changes 

 varying with the nature of the poisonous snake that has caused death. 



