82 INDIAN SNAKE POISONS, 



natural to conclude that the principle action of cobra- 

 poison on the nervous system consists of an extinction 

 of function, extending from below upwards, of the 

 various nerve centres constituting the cerebro-spinal 

 system ; and though, no doubt, other parts of the^ 

 nervous system suffer, it is evident that cobra-poison 

 has a special affinity for acting on the respiratory centre, 

 and those other ganglia allied to it in the medulla 

 oblongata, which are in connection with the vagus, the 

 spinal accessory and the hypo-glossal nerves, and that it 

 is directly to this destructive action that we have to 

 attribute death in most cases of cobra-poisoning. 



In very rapid cases of poisoning, when a very large 

 quantity of poison has entered the circulation at once, 

 instead of the gradual extinction of function of the 

 cerebro-spinal centres, the poison appears to act almost 

 immediately by stopping the action of the respiratory 

 centre. There is, of course, no time in these cases to 

 watch the gradual extension of the influence of the 

 poison on the nervous system. It also happens that 

 before cobra-poisoning paralyses the cerebro-spinal 

 centres, it first stimulates them, and produces irregular 

 action. This is sometimes very marked in regard to 

 the respiratory centre, when a large quantity of cobra- 

 poisoa has entered the circulation with considerable 

 rapidity; and in this case it is very often se6n that the 

 other centres in the cord have shared in this stimulation 

 before becoming paralysed ; the result being irregular 



