EFFECTS OF VARIOUS AGENTS ON VENOM. 43 



Resume. — The above experiments, with others too numerous for detail, have 

 enabled us to confirm Lacerda's and Vincent Richard's views as to the power of 

 permanganate of potassium to destroy venoms. As a local antidote it is for all 

 snake poisons the best. 



It is also clear from what we have seen that ferric chloride is a very efficient 

 local destroyer of the venom of our own snakes, which owe their vigor to venom- 

 globulin, but has little value as a local antidote to the peptone which gives power 

 to the poison of the Cobra. The chloride needs to be locally used in full doses, 

 whence it is that the strong liquor ferri chloridi (U. S. P.) is more efficient than 

 the tincture. 



That bromine may prove valuable as a local means of relief seems to be plain 

 from our experiments, and is in fact one of their most interesting results. It was 

 used, as we have seen, either as hydrobromic or bromohydric acid. Probably any 

 solution of bromine would answer, and — as was shown by its free local use to control 

 gangrene during our civil war — there need be no fear in using it with freedom. 



It has long been known in India that the strong alkalies destroy venom, and 

 this we are able to confirm. Brainerd long ago taught that iodine has destructive 

 value as regards Crotalus venom, and this also seems to us to be true. 



In fact many agents more or less alter venoms if allowed to remain long in con- 

 tact with them, and usually act with increased vigor as the temperature is raised 

 above that of the air ; but it is chemically singular that brief exposure of venoms 

 to strong acids should so little affect the toxicity of the poisons in question. 

 Except where otherwise distinctly stated, the chemicals used by us have been 

 added to the poison immediately before injecting it. Enough has been here 

 proved to make it now worth while to study still more carefully the value of 

 bromine and ferric chloride as local poison destroyers. One agent may be at hand 

 or available when others are not, and the more numerous are the means we possess 

 as local antidotes the better is the chance of escape or relief for persons bitten. 



