ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



1359 



The horse to be immunized is given a ver}^ 

 small preliminary injection of snake venom. Re- 

 covery is awaited^ which is followed by an injec- 

 tion of slightly increased strength. This process 

 goes on, extending into weeks and months. 

 Finally, there is little effect from even a large 

 dose of the injected toxin. The animal has been 

 fortified against the attacks of the venom by the 

 formation of an antitoxin. In a way, the latter 

 term is a misnomer, though it signifies the con- 

 dition. A wonderful change has taken place in 

 the animal's organization. It may now with- 

 stand what would be fifty times over a fatal 

 dose to an animal not treated; yet it shows no 

 ill effect. What has taken place, we are unable 

 definitely to say. What we know is that the 

 animal's blood, when injected into another not 

 immune, produces not only immunity against 

 the development of attacks upon the heart and 

 nerve centers, but causes great swellings to 

 quickly subside. Blood is drawn from the horse 

 without injuring the animal, and from this the 

 serous, yellow portion is removed. We call this 

 product "anti-venomous serum." 



For twenty years the Pasteur Institute at 

 Lille, France, has been producing an anti-ven- 

 omous serum, for which the world is indebted 

 to Dr. Albert Calmette. As the death rate from 

 poisonous snakes always has been particularly 

 high in India, averaging over twenty thousand 

 the year, Calmette's serum has been made prin- 

 cipally by immunization from venom of the co- 

 bra. While this serum has marked beneficial 

 effect with the bites of all snakes, its action is 

 particularly marked after bites involving venom 

 of cobras or their allies. This results from the 

 fact that different snakes secrete venoms show- 

 ing chemical variance. While the basic ele- 

 ments of snake poisons are similar, the ratio of 

 the elements widely vary. The cobras and their 

 allies possess a high degree of nerve-attacking 

 elements (neuro-toxins) while the thick-bodied 

 poisonous snakes (rattlesnakes, lance-heads and 

 Old World vipers) have a high ratio of blood- 

 destroying elements (haemo-toxin). Even 

 among members of the cobra family, the ratio 

 of the nerve-attacking element with the blood- 

 destroying force may vary. This is particular- 

 ly the case among the vipers. 



Owing to this variance in the nerve or blood- 

 destroying action of snake venom, anti-venom- 

 ous serums have been produced by immuniza- 

 tion with mixed poisons, from both types of 

 poisonous serpents. This was a step in the right 

 direction an anti-venomous serum for each 

 group of snakes having distinctly different poi- 

 sons as regards ratios of toxic elements. To 



produce these different anti-venomous serums, 

 however, is a costly and elaborate process. 

 South America, the home of a number of very 

 deadly snakes of varying toxic ratios, is in- 

 debted to Dr. Vital Brazil for a unique and 

 wonderful institution of very great value to 

 human life. In an admirably equipped insti- 

 tution, the Institute Serum-Therapico, at Sao 

 Paulo, Brazil, he is engaged in the production 

 of quantities of specific serums for the venom- 

 ous snakes of the American tropics. Thus far 

 he has made four types of anti-serums : for the 

 rattlesnake {Crotalus) ; the lancehead snakes 

 (Lachesis) ; the coral snakes (^Elaps), and an- 

 other produced by immunization of the three 

 mixed poisons, for use in cases wherein the vic- 

 tim is unable to identify the type of reptile 

 concerned. While Dr. Brazil explains that the 

 last-named serum may save life, there is a great 

 difference in its application from that of the 

 agent secured by operations with poison of the 

 same kind as that of the snake inflicting the 

 injury. 



This preliminary description of new discov- 

 eries with anti-venomous serums has immediate 

 bearing upon the first case of snake-bite in the 

 Park. By a remarkable and also fortunate co- 

 incidence. Dr. Brazil was in New York when 

 the accident occurred, and for the first time in 

 the United States a serum obtained by immuni- 

 zation from rattlesnake poison was injected 

 after a bite from the same type of snake. 



On the morning of January 27, while clean- 

 ing a cage in the Reptile House, Keeper John 

 Toomey was bitten by a large, newly-arrived 

 Texas diamond-back rattlesnake. This was 

 our first accident with a poisonous snake since 

 the opening of the Reptile House in November, 

 1899, a period of sixteen and one-half years. 



Owing to the employment of new measures 

 for the treatment of snake-bite, the history of 

 this case may be of practical value. The large 

 size of the snake involved, which weighed about 

 ten pounds, and the reptile's vigorous condition, 

 seem to render Keeper Toomey's case well 

 worthy of detailed consideration. The unusual 

 features of this case are three: (1) the serious 

 nature of the attack; (2) the injection of a spe- 

 cific anti-venomous serum for rattlesnake bite; 

 and (3) the rapid reduction of the swelling in 

 an enormously distended limb without recourse 

 to drainage incisions. 



The accident to Keeper Toomey came during 

 the course of his regular morning work. He 

 was cleaning one of the large easterly cages on 

 the main floor of the Reptile House, in which 

 were quartered several specimens of the big 



