106 ON THE NATURE AND ACTION OF THE 



or injected into the circulation. A like result is obtained by 

 arresting its excretion, either by ligaturing the renal vessels or 

 extirpating the kidneys. Snake-vcnoni is also poisonous when 

 absorbed by the mucous membrane of the stomach. 



On the other hand, when we wish to prevent the accumula- 

 tion of a poison in the blood and thus to arrest its action, we 

 must either lessen its* absorption, quicken its excretion, or 

 combine the two means. 



In the case of curare the former of these is sufficient ; and all 

 the bad effects of the introduction of this poison into a wound 

 may be prevented by applying a ligature between the wound 

 and the heart, and only loosening the bandage occasionally, for 

 an instant or two at a time. The same obtains in snake- 

 poisoning. In this way only a little of the' poison is absorbed 

 each time the ligature is slackened, and this is excreted by the 

 kidneys before another quantity is absorbed. If the poison 

 can be removed from the wound itself by other means, instead 

 of making the whole of it pass through the circulation, the 

 danger it causes will, of course, be sooner over. Our power to 

 quicken excretion is, in most cases, much less than that to 

 retard absorption ; and it is therefore on the latter that we 

 mainly rely in cases of poisoning in general, as well as snake- 

 bites in particular. 



The various methods of mechanically arresting the intro- 

 duction of the virus, by excision, cautery, and chemical agency, 

 have been fully discussed in the Thanatopliidia of India ; and 

 we purpose now to consider its excretion or removal from the 

 organism. 



Before doing so, however, we must inquire whether its 

 removal is likely to be of any service or not ; for, as we have 

 already pointed out in our previous communication, the action 

 of the poison may be of two kinds : — 1st. It may resemble 

 curare in destroying the power of the nervous system so long as 

 it is present in the blood, but leaving it in a condition to resume 

 its functions as soon as the poison has been removed. 2nd. Its 

 action may be identical with, or similar to, that of a ferment, 

 decomposing or altering the nervous and muscular tissues 

 in situ (in somewhat the same way as the pancreatic or gastric 



