NA TURE 



July 14, 1904 



a wall, into which the oven is built, so that it communicates 

 with both rooms. In one chamber the infected articles are 

 placed in the oven, and when disinfection is complete the 

 articles are taken out in the other chamber. 



(2) An incinerator or destructor for the combustion of 

 useless infected articles. 



{3) Separate sheds for (o) vans employed to bring infected 

 articles, and (h) vans employed to return disinfected 

 articles. 



(4) A laundry and bath-room. 



The article describes the forms of stoves mostiv used in 

 this country at the present day, the planning and construc- 

 tion, of the disinfecting station, the staff, the disinfection of 

 articles (leather goods, furs, feathers and books) which are 

 injured by steam, the destruction of useless articles in a 

 destructor furnace ; and much useful information as to cost 

 is also given. 



The article is well illustrated. The illustration here re- 

 produced shows the non-infected chamber ; the door of one 

 of the ovens is open, and the wheeled carriage running on 

 internal rails is seen with the racks on which the clothing 

 and bedding are placed. The observation window in the 

 partition wall is permanently closed. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



The physiological laboratorv of the Universitv of London 

 will remain open for post-graduate research students during 

 the vacation months August and .September. Foreign 

 graduates who may be desirous of working in the laboratory 

 should previously communicate with the director or with the 

 academic registrar of the university. 



A COURSE in practical and clinical bacteriology will be 

 held at King's College, L'niversity of London, from 

 Wednesday, August 3, to Saturday, August 13. The course 

 will consist of lectures, demonstrations, and practical work ; 

 in the latter, the members of the class will make for them- 

 selves permanent preparations of the chief pathogenic 

 micro-organisms, and will carry out the principal manipu- 

 lations employed in bacteriological investigations. Names 

 should be sent in as soon as possible to the secretarv or to 

 Prof. Hewlett. 



We directed attention a short time ago (June 9, p. 138) to 

 the new illustrated quarterly review Buddhism ; in the third 

 number is an interesting article on education in Burma, in 

 which it is stated that the vernacular lav schools introduced 

 by the British Government are by no means an unqualified 

 success, since they have been organised without due regard 

 for native conditions. " What object." says the anonymous 

 writer, " has education to a jungle Burman except to form 

 his character? And can Burmese character be moulded bv 

 studying the history or geography of Europe or standard 

 readers garbled under European supervision? A Burman 

 should be taught Burman ethics, morals and usage. The 

 disobedience to the authority of parents, which is so alarm- 

 ing a feature in the present state of things, requires to be 

 specially dealt with. The evil goes beyond mere dis- 

 obedience and truancy — cases where boys rob their parents 

 or wantonly conmiit other breaches of the law are in- 

 creasing." Evidently Burma also is suffering from that 

 peculiar British attitude of mind that seeks to constrain all 

 peoples to conform to the ideals and methods of the Britons 

 themselves. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 



Royal Society, June g. — "O^i the Action of the Venom 



of Bungarus cofnilciis (the Common Krait)." Bv Major 



R. H. Elliot, I.>LS,, W. C. Sillar, M.B., B..Sc., and 



George S. Carmichael, M.B., Ch.B. 



Experiments were performed by the authors in the 

 pharmacological laboratory of the University of Edinburgh 

 with the following results : — 



(i) The minimum-lethal dose of the dried venom was 

 determined for frogs and small mammals, rats and rabbits. 

 It was found that the >LL.D. for the frog was about 00005 

 N' I. Nil, VI <\. 70] 



of a gram per kilo., for the rat 0001 gram per kilo., and 

 for the rabbit the remarkablv low dose of 000008 gram 

 per kilo. 



(2) It was found that Calmette's anti-venomous serum 

 in quantities sufficient to protect rats against ten minimum 

 lethal doses of cobra venom, in the same quantities was 

 quite powerless to protect these animals from similar doses 

 of krait venom. 



(3) The condition of various nerve terminals was studied, 

 both in animals that die after poisoning bv krait venom 

 and in nerve muscle preparations from the frog, and it was 

 found that the integritv of these nerve ends was invariably 

 involved at a comparatively early stage in the poison. 



(4) The blood was carefully examined, and no evidence 

 of antemortem clotting or intra\'ascular ha-molysis was 

 discovered. 



(5) The action of krait venom was examined when its 

 solution was perfused through the isolated vessels and 

 heart, respectively, of the frog. It was found that this 

 venom, while resembling in action that of cobra venom, 

 differs greatly in the degree of constriction of \"essels and 

 enhancement of ventricular contraction produced. Cobra 

 venom exercises an action in these directions many times 

 greater than that of krait venom. Cardio-plethysmographic 

 tracings are shown. 



(()) Studying the manner in which the vital functions of 

 mammals (rabbits, cats, and dogs) are influenced when 

 exposed to the action of this venom, the authors show by 

 means of kymographic and plethysmographic tracings that 

 the vaso-motor centre is strongly affected, a suspension of 

 the activity of this centre, as shown by the great splanchnic 

 dilatation, rapidly ensuing after its transient stimulation- 

 There are also indications of a feeble cardio-inhibitory action. 

 The experiments and illustrative tracings likewise show that 

 death is brought about by destroying the activity of the 

 respiratory centre. 



(7) From these results the conclusion may be arrived at 

 that while the symptoms produced by krait poisoning are 

 similar to those of cobra poisoning, they differ so much in 

 relative degree as to render it doubtful if they can properl\ 

 be spoken of as identical. 



" Contributions to the .Study of the Action of Sea-snake 

 Venoms. Part i." Bv Sir Thomas R. Fraser, M.D., 

 F.R.S., and Major R. H. Elliot, I.M.S. 



The venoms used in the research were those of Enhydrina 

 Valakad'wn and Enliydris Curtus. 



The minimum-lethal doses of Enhydrina VaJahadicit 

 venom were found to be : — for rats = ooooo9 gram per kilo, 

 of body weight, for rabbits = 00000b gram per kilo, of body 

 weight, for cats = oooo2 gram per kilo, of body weight. 



The minuteness of these doses indicates that sea-snake 

 venom is the most lethal of all substances the lethal power 

 of which has been determined. 



Symptoms of Sca-snakc Poisoning in Animals. — In the 

 main these symptoms resemble those of cobraisni, but the 

 dyspnoea is more urgent. 



.'Nummary of Rcsnits. 

 (i) Enhydrina venom has no direct action on the walls 

 of the arterioles, or at least has no action in any strength 

 of solution which could be present in the blood of a human 

 victim of sea-snake bite. 



(2) Enhydrina venom acts directly on the isolated frog 

 ventricle, producing a tonic and stimulating effect, but 

 this action is produced only by very strong solutions 

 (1 : 5000). The heart-beat is quickened, and the result is 

 therefore similar to that produced by very weak solutions 

 of cobra venom (i : 1,000,000 or weaker). 



(3) By experimenting with the mammalian heart exposed 

 11; situ, the authors have shown that Enhydrina venom has 

 no direct action on the vagal cardio-inhibitory centre. This 

 affords a striking contrast to the condition observed in 

 cobra poisoning. In the latter case, the powerful tonic 

 and stimulant action of the venom on the heart-muscle 

 (or more probably on its nerve-ends) is masked bv equally 

 powerful and direct stimulation of the cardio-inhibitory 

 centre. In Enhydrina poisoning, on the other hand, the 

 complete absence of cardio-inhibition leaves the feeble tonic 

 action on the heart free to manifest itself, as appears to 

 be displayed in several of the tracings. The authors cannot 



