THEIR NATURE AND EFFECTS. 76 



but slightly, if at all, raised in ordinary cases of daboia- 

 poisoning, and the circulation can be maintained long 

 after complete paralysis has occurred arid the respiration 

 has stopped, if the blood be kept oxygenated by artificial 

 means. 



On the pupil it seems as if daboia-poison had some 

 influence. After the primary convulsions have ceased, 

 the pupil is nearly always, if not always, widely dilated. 

 This dilatation is not dependent on asphyxia, as it is 

 often present when the convulsions are absent. The 

 Iris becomes merely a narrow ring ; but at the later 

 stages the pupil becomes again contracted, often being 

 smaller than natural. If life is prolonged by artificial 

 respiration, the pupil remains somewhat contracted, to 

 ■dilate again on artificial respiration being discontinued. 

 It would, of course, require direct observation on the 

 human subject to ascertain the effect which daboia- 

 poison exerts on accommodation. 



Over secretion daboia-poison also has some power. 

 Mucous discharges occur from mucous tracts with con- 

 siderable frequency ; but it is infinitely less powerful in 

 causing salivation than cobra-poison. If the experi- 

 ments given at the commencement of this section be 

 looked at, in not one is salivation recorded. If the 

 elaborate series of experiments in Sir J. Fayrer's 

 " Thanatophidia " be examined, it will be seen that in not 

 a siJigle experiment with daboia-poison is the word 

 " salivation " used, whereas it is constantly employed in 



