232 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XIV. 



If you have followed me in this rather technical explanation, you 

 will now understand that anti-venomous serum is the serum of a 

 horse which has been immunised with snake venom, that is, a horse 

 which has been treated over a length of time with gradually increasing 

 doses of venom. The serum thus got is put up into small bottles 

 containing 10 cubic centimetres * each. 



What, then, is the method of administration of this antidote, and in 

 what doses should it be given ? 



In the first place, it is necessary for you to understand — and, if 

 you have followed me so far, you will understand — that to be of any 

 good whatever the anti-venomous serum must come into actual 

 contact with the venom. Now after a man is bitten by a snake the 

 poison is rapidly absorbed from the side of the bite and circulates 

 freely in the blood. Our aim, therefore, is to get the serum as quickly 

 as possible into the blood stream, if possible before the poison has 

 done any damage to the central nervous system, in other words, before 

 any symptoms have appeared. 



This, of course, can be easily done by injecting the serum directly 

 into a vein, such as a vein at the bend of the elbow. If competent 

 medical assistance is at hand, I should certainly advise all cases of 

 Cobra bite being treated in this way. Less serum is required, and the 

 results would be more satisfactory. But, unfortunately, in these cases 

 such assistance is not usually available. We have then to fall back 

 on injecting the serum under the skin and allowing it to be absorbed 

 into the blood from there, a process which Martin has shown occu- 

 pies a considerable time. The best site for injection is, I think, the 

 loose tissues of the flank. A large quantity of serum can be injected 

 there, if the needle is plunged deeply enough, without giving the 

 patient the slightest inconvenience. If time permit, the syringe 

 should be boiled before being used ; but if symptoms have already 

 developed, this preliminary boiling may be dispensed with. 



As to the dose to be injected, Calmette contends on very slender, 

 in fact on empirical grounds, that from 10 to 20 cubic centimetres, 

 that is, from one to two bottles, is sufficient for any case of Cobra bite. 

 In my opinion — and I speak from a large experimental experience with 

 this poison, as well as from some most interesting observations which I 

 * A cubic centimetre is about 16 to 18 drops. 



