6 ON THE NATURE AND ACTION OF THE 



on whilst respiration is artificially sustained, we might hope to 

 succeed eventually in cobra as in curara poisoning. 



Or could we, indeed, conceive of and find any agent so 

 subtle as to overtake and neutralise the virus whilst it is in 

 the system, and before it should have compromised the nerve- 

 centres or other parts, then we should have the antidote which 

 has been so long sought for, but yet, we fear, not found.* We 

 do not now wish to speak of the action of the cobra-virus as it 

 operates secondarily on the blood, either in those cases where 

 great vigour of the animal or smallness of the dose have 

 enabled the creature to resist the immediate and deadly 

 neurotic effects of the poison. Such cases are to be classed 

 among other septicaemiaB, and are apart from that we are now 

 discussing. 



The question resolves itself into three points of inquiry : — 



1st. Is the nature of the virus such that we may hope 

 to find any agent that may overtake, neutralise, and so render 

 it (the virus) harmless or inert ? 



2nd. Does the virus exert only a temporarily pernicious 

 action on the ultimate structure of the nerve-centres or other 

 parts of the nerve-apparatus ? i.e., is it only inhibitory or 

 hurtful during its presence in the blood, but if removed would 

 leave the nerve-apparatus in a condition to resume its 

 functions (such is curara), or does it enter into some perma- 

 nent composition or union with the nerve-elements ? or, 3rd, 

 does it so modify their arrangements as to render them 

 permanently incapable of resuming their functions, even after 

 the poison has been eliminated, if it may be so removed, as we 

 know other poisons may ? Such, we fear, may be snake- 

 poison ! 



If the first proposition be correct, then in some subtle 

 chemical agent, or. if the second, in artificial respiration and 

 eliminant action we may have hope of success. 



* Fontana thought he had discovered such an agent in the " pierre a cautere " 

 (caustic potash). He says of it : — "Mais on peut point douter cependant de 

 I'efficacite de ce remede, et on peut affirmer que la pierre a cautere est le vrai 

 specifique de ce terrible renin." — Sur les Poisons, p. 324 (Florence, 1781). 



This agent has been tried in India, but has not proved of any service in cobra- 

 poisoning. 



