ON THE NATUEE AND PHYSIOLOGICAL 

 ACTION OF THE POISON OF NAJA 

 TRIPUDIANS AND OTHER INDIAN 

 VENOMOUS SNAKES.— Part I. 



By T. Lauder Brunton, M.D., Sc.D., M.RC.R, and J. Fayrer, 

 C.S.I, M.D, FRCP. Lond., F.R.S.E., Surgeon-Major Bengal 

 Army. 



(Reprinted f i*om the Proceedings of the Royal Society ^ No. 145, 1873.) 



On the Poison of Naja tripudians. 



The destruction of life in India by snake-bites is so great, that, 

 with the hope of preventing or diminishing the mortality, in 

 1867 Dr. Fayrer began, and has recently completed, a pro- 

 tracted and systematic series of investigations on the subject in 

 all its aspects ; and, in a work entitled the TJianatophidia of 

 India, has published a description of the venomous snakes 

 found in British India, with an account of a series of experi- 

 ments on the lower animals, conducted for the purpose of 

 studying the nature of the poison, its modus operandi, and the 

 value of the numerous remedies that have been from time to 

 time reputed as antidotes — that is, as having the power of 

 neutralising the lethal effects of the virus, and of saving life. 



His object in carrying out these investigations has been : — 



1st. To ascertain the nature and relative effects of the bite 

 of the different forms of Indian venomous snakes, and the 

 conditions and degrees of intensity under which the activity 

 of the virus is most marked. 



2nd. The physiological action of the virus, and its mode of 

 causing death. 



3rd. The value of remedies, and the extent to which we may, 

 by preventive or therapeutic measures, hope to save life. 

 (95) B 



