22 



one of poisonous snnke-bite or not; for even though 

 there may be considerable differences in degree as to the 

 amount of inflammation, yet the existence of any at all 

 must indicate that there must be present a cause beyond 

 the mere mechanical injury. c 



Action of Cobra-Poison on the Nervous System. 



TliRt the chief action of cobra-poison is on the 

 nervous system, there can be no doubt. The exact 

 nature of the action, however, is not so clear. The 

 victim of cobra-poisoning just before death is usually 

 an example of very complete general paralysis. Sir 

 Joseph Fayrer and Dr. Brunton, who have written a 

 most elaborate and valuable series of papers on the 

 nature and physiological action of snake-poison, main- 

 tain that though the greater part of the nervous system 

 is affected, yet the terminations of the motor nerves 

 suffer especially, and in a very marked manner. They 

 base their reasoning on the results produced by experi- 

 ments in -which the excitability of two nerves of the 

 same animal is tested, one of which has been subjected 

 to the action of the poison, and the other has been kept 

 from contact with the poisoned blood by the limb to 

 which it is distributed being ligatured, the nerve, how- 

 ever, being kept intact. Under these circumstances a 

 great difference will be found in the electric excitability 

 of the two nerves. These experiments have been 



