NA TURE 



[August 20, 1896 



subcutaneciiisly is about 1 niilligramme of dried substance, 

 which proves lethal in about twelve hours. Twice this quantity 

 injected into the veins kills a rabbit of about 1500 grammes in 

 sixteen minutes. Five times as much introduced subcutanenusly 

 proves fatal in about three and a half liours. I may, however, 

 give you the results of experiments devised to bring out 

 the exact action of the anti-venomous serum, which experi- 

 ments have been followed by those who are working in these 

 laboratories. 



To exhibit the efficiency of protective injections, at nine 

 o'clock this morning four rabbits, weighing between 1450 and 

 1770 grammes, were injected intravenously in the lateral aural 

 vein, each with 3 c.c. of the anti-venomous serum. This after- 

 noon these rabbits have been injected intravenously with 2 

 milligrammes of dissolved dried venom sufficient to kill the 

 ;inimal in sixteen or seventeen minutes. None of these animals 

 show any symptom of sleepiness, and it is evident that the venom 

 will have little, if any, eft'ect upon them. At the time that 

 these animals were injected with the two lethal doses, two con- 

 trol rabbits, weighing 1340 and 1275 grammes respectively, were 

 similarly injected intravenously with 2 milligrammes of the 

 venom ; these both succumbed to the symptoms above-men- 

 tioned, one in about sixteen minutes and the other in seventeen 

 minutes. We have here, then, ample evidence of the great 

 protective power that the serum exerts when injected into the 

 body before the venom is introduced. In a second series of 

 experiments, carried out to demonstrate the curative properties 

 of this serum, six rabbits were similarly treated with 5 milli- 

 grammes of venom injected under the skin. Half an hour 

 afterwards two of these animals received 3 c.c. of the serum 

 intravenously ; neither of them showed any symptoms of poison- 

 ing, and remained perfectly well. Two others of these poisoned 

 animals, one hour after the venom had been introduced, were 

 similarly injected intravenously with 3 c.c. of the serum ; they 

 also remained well. Two of the other rabbits should have been 

 left for one and a half hours, but the dose of poison was so 

 large that one of the animals succumbed at the end of an hour 

 and twenty minutes ; the other animal was immediately injected 

 with the same dose of serum as above, with the result that it 

 is now well, although the dose of venom was so large and had 

 been allowed to act for so long a time — long enough, indeed, 

 to kill the other animal injected at the same time. This is a 

 very striking proof of the efficacy of the serum. 



Although the anti-venomous serum does not act directly upon 

 the toxin, but only through the cells, it begins to exert its 

 influence immediately it is introduced into the body. This fact 

 is well brought out by the following experiments: — Three c.c. 

 of the serum were injected into the lateral vein of the left ear 

 of a rabbit weighing 12S0 grammes; fifteen minutes later this 

 animal received into the lateral vein of the right ear 2 milli- 

 grammes of the venom, sufficient to kill it in less than twenty 

 minutes had it not received the serum. The animal has re- 

 mained perfectly well, and still shows no evidence of poisoning 

 by snake venom. A more striking experiment still is one of 

 which I give a description. A rabbit having received intra- 

 venously 2 milligrammes of venom, two minutes later is injected 

 with 5 c.c. of the anti- venomous serum in the vein of the opposite 

 ear. The animal has remained perfectly well.' Such an ex- 

 periment shows that the venom does not destroy the cellular 

 elements at once, and that even when the poison has already 

 found its way to the circulation these cells may be rendered 

 insensible to the action of the poison by means of the action of 

 the serum. 



[Dr. Calmette then gave extracts from the paper which he 

 brought before the British Medical Association at Carlisle, and 

 concluded by asking Dr. Woodhead to read the following. ] 



Gentlemen, the experiments that have been described to you 

 concerning the efficacy of the "anti-venomous serum," the re- 

 sults of which you have before you, prove that the said serum 

 really constitutes a specific remedy against venomous snake- 

 bites. The use of this serum must necessarily become generalised 

 at no distant date in all countries where venomous snakes are 

 found, in order that both men and domestic animals may be 

 protected. Is it not advisable, therefore, for the British or 

 Colonial Governments, which are deeply interested in this matter, 

 to take rigorous measures to prevent the sale in England and 

 in its colonies of serums for which no absolute guarantee of 



efficacy and purity is given ? I have the honour to propose 

 that you will adopt the following propositions, and bring 

 them in some way before the Government at as early a date 

 as possible : — 



(1) That there be instituted in London and in each British 

 colony where there are found venomous snakes a sanitary com- 

 mittee, to be entrusted with the duty of testing the efficacy of 

 anti-venomous serums offered for sale or sent out to be .delivered 

 gratuitously by druggists and others. 



(2) That no bottle shall be sold or distributed unless bearing 

 the mark of such control. 



(3) That this control be effected according to the sole, simple, 



and rapid method which alone presents every guarantee of I 

 accuracy. . 



(4) The method proposed is the following : — A standard solu- 

 tion of venom will be placed at the disposal of the appointed 

 experts. The toxic unit of this solution will be based on the 

 quantity of venom necessary to kill a rabbit of 2 kilogrammes 

 in twenty minutes by intravenous inoculation in the marginal 

 vein of the ear, the above quantity corresponding on an average 

 to 2 milligrammes of cobra venom (weighed dry) and to 4 

 milligrammes of rattlesnake venom. An anti-venomous serum, 

 to be sufficiently active for therapeutic use, must be a preserva- 

 tive in a mininmm dose of 2 c.c. on intravenous injection into 

 a rabbit of 2 kilogrammes against an intravenous injection of 

 the toxic unit of venom. The preventive inoculation must be 

 made fifteen minutes only before the inoculation of the venom. 



The testing of the serum is thus effected in less than one half- 1 

 hour. I 



(5) That stations provided with serum and all the necessary 

 apparatus for its application be established in the principal 

 centres of agriculture and in the mining and forest districts of 

 the colonies infested with venomous snakes, such as Australia, 

 Burmah, and India, so that every person bitten may be able td 

 come at once and receive treatment. 



NO. 1 399, VOL. 54] 



REPORT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE 

 AND ART. 



T^HE forty-third Report of the Department of Science and 

 Art, dealing with the work of the Department during ilie 

 past year, has just been issued in the form of a Blue-b^ok. 

 The report may be taken as a statement of the condition 

 of elementary science teaching in this country ; therefore, 

 some of the facts and opinions contained in it are worth 

 recording. 



In the science division it is pointed out that in the decennial 

 period, from 18S6 to 1895, the number of schools has increased 

 from 16S2 to 2673, of classes from 5S62 to 9545, and of .students 

 from 94,838 to 193,404. Of the 193,404 pupils under instruc- 

 tion in 1895, 188,380 come within the category of those on 

 account of whose instruction p.iymenls on the results of ex- 

 aminations are made by the Department. Of the schools ex- 

 amined, 2139 were in England and Wales, 366 in Scotland, | 

 and 168 in Ireland. There were 113,398 individual students, 

 examined, and 52,079 were successful in passing in one or more 

 subjects. The payments to Science Schools, exclusive of those 

 made to Training Colleges on the results of the examinations 

 for the year 1895, amounted to ^142,543, an increase of more ' 

 than ^'2000 on the preceding year. | 



Of the 2673 Departmental Science Schools in 1895, ''S ^^'^ ' 



Organised Science Schools, that is to say, schools in which 

 organised courses of instruction are followed. A new scheme of 

 work for such schools came into force last year, and so far it 

 appears to have worked satisfactorily. Practical physics was 

 made obligatory in these schools by the new scheme, and the 

 result is that while only a few years ago a physical laboratory was 

 a rarity, one will shortly be found in every school in which 

 science forms a proper place in the curriculum. 



Mr. C. A. Buckmaster, one of the senior inspectors, places 

 his finger upon a weak point in the educaticm of teachers when 

 he says, " the great failing of the elementary teacher .as a 

 science instructor is not want of knowledge, but want of ability 

 to experiment." The reason is that few Training Colleges pro- 

 vide facilities for courses of experimental work, though such 

 .scientific practice should be an essential cnndilinn for the teach- 

 ing of science subjects in the Elementary School Code. 



