158 ^METHOD OF PREVENTING DEATH FROM SNAKE BITE, 



cases recovery took place after five lethal doses had been 

 injected, in one of which (Experiment 11) 5 minutes were 

 allowed to elapse before the treatment was carried out, while in 

 Experiment 13 recovery ensued from lethal doses treated 

 10 minutes after injection. 



The above results are very encouraging, for it appears from 

 D. D. Cunningham's observations that the average amount of 

 venom ejected by a full- sized cobra is not more than 10 lethal 

 doses for a man, while other writers give much smaller amounts. 

 Further, in many cases the full dose will not actually be 

 injected into the human tissue for various reasons. 



In Table III a similar series of experiments with Daboia 

 venom are summarised. Here, again, in the case of rabbits, 

 only very marked prolongation of life was obtained, although 

 the dose used in Experiment 17 was less than four lethal doses, 

 so that it is clear that in the case of rabbits the method was 

 not very successful. 



On the other hand, the experiments with cats were as 

 successful as in those of the cobra series given above ; for 

 only one of the six cases treated with permanganate died, and 

 in this instance (Experiment 21) the very large dose of 

 50 milligrammes per kilogramme was injected, and the treat- 

 ment was delayed for 5 minutes. This dose is probably 

 relatively larger than could be injected by any known viper in 

 the case of a full-grown man. Further, in this case death did 

 not take place until upwards of 24 hours after the injection, 

 while in a control experiment with the same dose (Experi- 

 ment 22) a fatal result occurred in four hours. Further, 

 with the same large dose recovery took place when treatment 

 was carried out half a minute after injection. Again, 30 milli- 

 grammes per kilogramme (three lethal doses) killed a control 

 cat in 4 J hours, but in three cases treated, ^, 5, and 10 minutes 

 respectively after injection, all recovered, as did one after 

 10 milligrammes per kilogramme, although a control with this 

 last dose died in 30 — 40 hours. In all the experiments of both 

 series the recovered animals were alive and well five days and 

 upwards after the injection of the venoms, which is two days 

 longer than death has ever taken place in any of the control 

 animals. 



