SCORPION POISON 179 



Lamb l found that antivenin for cobra acts as a precipitin for 

 cobra venom, but considered it not specific for cobra venom, 

 as it causes precipitation to varying degrees in other venoms. 

 Hunter, 2 however, states that the precipitin is specific. It does 

 not cause precipitation with cobra serum, but precipitins for cobra 

 serum do precipitate cobra venom (Hunter). The precipitin for- 

 mation is not essentially related to antitoxin formation. Flexner 

 and Noguchi also observed that crotalus antivenin is strongly 

 precipitating for crotalus serum, less so for crotalus venom, and 

 but slightly for pine-snake serum ; Calmette's antivenin is with- 

 out precipitating action on either crotalus venom or serum. 



As is well known, snakes are nearly or quite insusceptible to 

 snake venom. Cunningham 3 found that serum of cobras was 

 devoid of antitoxic property, so the immunity of snakes must 

 be ascribed to an absence of cell receptors in their tissues, with 

 which their venom amboceptor can combine. The reputed 

 immunity of the mongoose and hedgehog depends partly on a 

 relatively low susceptibility, but probably more on the agility 

 of the mongoose and the defensive spines of the hedgehog. 



SCORPION POISON 4 



This poison is secreted by a pair of specialized glands in the 

 posterior segment of the elongated abdomen, surrounded by a 

 firm capsule with a sharp apex through which the poison is 

 discharged. Its effect on man is usually confined to local pain, 

 swelling, and occasionally phlegmonous inflammation with con- 

 stitutional symptoms after bites from the largest species. In 

 Africa a large scorpion (Androctonus) exists, that is reputed 

 frequently to cause fatal poisoning, especially in children. The 

 majority of serious results following scorpion bites, as well as 

 bites of poisonous insects to be considered later, are, however, 

 due to infection of the wound, which occurs readily because of 

 local necrosis and hemorrhages, and also because of the unfavor- 

 able conditions existing in tropical climates. Apparently these 

 bites favor local infection much as do those of vipers. 



When general symptoms do occur, they are described as" 

 resembling strychnine poisoning, with trismus, stiffness of the 

 neck and eventually of the respiratory muscles, which seems to 



1 Lancet, 1902 (ii), 431 ; 1904 (i), 916. 



2 Jour, of Physiol., 1905 (33), 239. 



3 Nature, 1896 (55), 139. 



4 A complete discussion of the literature on poisonous invertebrates, etc., 

 is given by v. Fiirth, " Vergleichende chemische Physiologic der niederen 

 Tiere," Jena, 1903 ; and by Faust, " Die tierischen Gifte," Braunschweig, 1906. 



