POISON OF SOME INDIAN VENOMOUS SNAKES. 57 



stimulus applied to its nerve. In some instances paralysis of 

 the spinal cord appeared to cause death when little or no 

 affection of the motor nerves could be observed (Experi- 

 ment XLVII, etc.) ; but in others the peripheral paralysis was 

 strongly marked. In no case was it more obvious, and in few 

 was it so distinct as in Experiment XXXV I, made with the 

 virus itself, which had neither become coagulated nor dried. 

 In experiments made with the coagulated poison, death seemed 

 invariably to be caused by paralysis of the spinal cord, the 

 motor nerves being little affected (Experiment XI); while, in 

 those made with the dried venom, sometimes the action on the 

 cord predominated, and sometimes that on the nerves. In this 

 respect, as well as in some of the symptoms it produces, cobra- 

 poison agrees very closely with conia. This alkaloid, as Crum- 

 Brown and Eraser have shown, often contains a mixture of true 

 conia and methylconia. Conia alone paralyses the motor 

 nerves without affecting the spinal cord ; but when mixed with 

 methylconia, sometimes the one is affected first and sometimes 

 the other. When the dose is small, the motor nerves are 

 usually paralysed before the reflex function of tlie cord ; but 

 when the dose is large, the cord is paralysed before the nerves. 

 Methylconia also affects both ; but a small dose of it paralyses 

 the cord before the nerves, while a large one paralyses them 

 first. The paralysis of the hind legs, often observed in snake- 

 poisoning (Experiments VI and VII), is probably partly due to 

 the local action of the poison in the nerves and muscles of the 

 bitten member, and partly to its action on the cord. This 

 paralysis is noticed in Genesis xlix, 17, where Jacob says, 

 " Dan is an adder in the path, biting the horse-heels, so that 

 the rider falleth backward." In this point cobra-venom, when 

 dried, appears to resemble methylconia rather than its 

 admixture with conia ; but it exercises numerous other actions 

 upon the blood, muscles, etc., which neither of these substances 

 has been shown to do. It is doubtful whether the cerebrum is 

 directly affected by cobra-poison, as the intelligence both in 

 man and animals often remains almost unimpaired to the last, 

 and the stupor and drowsiness which are sometimes noticed 

 may be caused indirectly by the action of the venom on the 



