PATHOLOGY. 



139 



RAPID POISONING— Continued. 



No. of 



Animal 



Form and quantity 



Time of 



Local lesion. 



Condi- 



Changes in thorax, abdomen, 



Remarks. 



expt. 



used. 



of venom, and 

 where introduced. 



death. 





tion of 

 blood. 



brain, and membranes. 





18 



Cat 



Dry Crotalus 



Died 



Same as last 



Same as 



Peritoneal cavity contains a 



Cats appear to resist the 







venom, 1 grain in 



5£ hours 





last 



good deal of liquid blood ; 



effects of venom much 







watery solution, 









hemorrhage at base of brain 



longer than the other 







into peritoneal 









(subarachnoid) ; no other 



animals used in this re- 







cavity 









lesion noted ; organs rather 

 anaemic. Heart empty, con- 

 tracted 



search. 



19 



Cat 



Peritoneum opened, 



Died 



Hemorrhagic in- 



Partly 



Peritoneal hemorrhage; or- 



It appears that when the 





(chlor- 



mesentery exposed 



after 4 



filtration, quite 



coagu- 



gans anaemic 



mesentery is exjiosed and 





alized) 



uninjured, in 



hours 



extensive, but 



lable 





not injured the animal 







moist chamber,, 



and 35 



came on very 







survives much larger ap- 







and smeared re- 



minutes 



slowly 







plications of venom than 







peatedly with a 











if venom be injected into 







solution of dry 











an unopened peritoneal 







venom, using not 











cavity. Very small quan- 







less than 5 grains 











tities of venom appear to 







of venom 











kill in the latter case. 

 For further experiments 

 of this character, see 

 Mechanism of Hemor- 

 rhages. 



None of the cases in the table exhibit instances of the greatest possible 

 rapidity of death. Dr. Mitchell has seen a pigeon die within ten seconds from a 

 hypodermatic injection of pure Crotalus venom. In such a case there is positively 

 no lesion, and the blood is solidly coagulated. 



In most cases very soon after injection of the venom in either of its forms, the 

 time varying from a few minutes to a few hours, according to the kind of animal 

 and the quantity of venom used, there appears a swelling at the point of injection 

 with intense violet-black discoloration of the skin, which gradually extends over 

 an area of several square inches. On making an incision into the tissues in the 

 immediate neighborhood of the injection, they are found to be soaked with 

 extravasated blood. This is often all that is visible if death has occurred soon; 

 but if it has been postponed for a short time, then in tissues distant from the place 

 of the injection, extravasations to a smaller extent were often found. Most pro- 

 nounced and most frequent are the ecchymoses below serous membranes (subpleural, 

 subperitoneal, and subpericardial) ; in fact the whole organism is deeply affected, 

 the tissues being congested and presenting a much darker appearance than normal. 

 The blood does not seem to coagulate readily within cavities or interstices of the 

 body unless cleatli follows almost instantaneously. In cases which live longer, the 

 blood remains commonly in a liquid state, or coagulates imperfectly, and then only 

 after being exposed to the air, resembling in this particular the state of that fluid 

 observed in conditions of asphyxia. 



