54 ON THE NATURE AND ACTION OF THE 



Secondary Action of the Poison on Muscles. 



The muscles of the part into which the poison has been 

 introduced are very apt to undergo rapid decomposition. We 

 have already shown that their irritability is either lessened, or 

 completely destroyed, by the action of the venom ; and it seems 

 very probable that the mere contact of any other foreign body, 

 containing bacteria or their germs (as the water in which the 

 cobra-poison was dissolved in our experiments certainly did) 

 would suffice to explain the decomposition of the muscle without 

 assuming any special putrefactive action on the part of the 

 poison ; for the muscle, which has been at least temporarily 

 killed by the poison, is placed in the body in the most favour- 

 able conditions of temperature and moisture for the occurrence 

 of decomposition whenever any germs are brought into contact 

 with it. However, Weir Mitchell found that the venom of the 

 rattlesnake had a curious influence upon muscle, which could 

 hardly be explained without the supposition that the poison 

 had a peculiar disorganising action upon the muscular tissue. 

 In every instance the venom softened the muscle in proportion 

 to the length of time it remained in contact with it ; so that, 

 even after a few hours, in warm-blooded animals, and after a 

 rather longer time in the frog, the wounded muscle became 

 almost diffluent, and assumed a dark colour and somewhat jelly- 

 like appearance. The structure remained entire until it was 

 pressed upon or stretched, when it lost all regularity, and 

 offered, under the miser oscope, the appearance of a minute 

 granular mass. In order to ascertain whether cobra-poison had 

 a similar action, the following experiment was tried. 



Experiment XXXIY. 



September, 1873. — The gastrocnemii of a frog were removed 

 and laid in two watch-glasses. One was then covered with 

 several drops of a solution of dried cobra-poison, dissolved in a 

 sufficient quantity of |-per-cent. salt solution to form a mixture 

 about the consistence of fresh poison, while the otlier was 

 covered with a few drops of salt solution alone. They were 

 then protected from dust by two other watch-glasses inverted 



