42 INDIAN SNAKE POISONS, 



to act very freely, but sometimes there is a diminution 

 of urine. 



There is but little evidence of the effect of cobra- 

 poisoning on the blood. It is, of course, by the blood 

 acting as carrier that the poison is able to reach tl^e 

 system, and the blood of a cobra-poisoned animal is 

 poisonous, also, to another animal. It is clear, there- 

 fore, that the poison exists in the blood. That it causes 

 changes in it, there is also evidence. In a man poisoned 

 by a cobra it is very generally, indeed, found that his 

 blood has become incoagulable, though in dogs it is 

 exceptional for this to be the case. Very occasionally, 

 too, the mucous discharges from the body are stained 

 with blood, as if the relation existing between the blood 

 and the tissues had been in some way altered. If, how- 

 ever, the experiments given at the commencement are 

 referred to, it will be seen that in not one was there 

 noted a discharge of blood from a mucous orifice, and 

 they were selected on account of being typical. Still, 

 there are cases on record which prove tliat discharges of 

 blood, though rare, occasionally occur, perhaps through 

 individual peculiarities. 



The interval that occurs between the injection of the 

 poison and the development of the symptoms is, to a 

 certain extent, evidence of blood-change, as the pause 

 can be proved to depend on two factors. The one fftct.or 

 is the time required for the absorption of the poibv^^, ^or 

 it is lessened by the poison being injected simultaneously 



