118 INDIAN SNAKE POISONS, 



able to expect chemistry to give us any further informa- 

 tion about snake-poison than to indicate the class of 

 substance to which it belongs, and those agents which 

 are most likely to effect alterations in it. 



Cobra-poison, which may be conveniently taken as a 

 type of snake-poisons, is a clear, transparent fluid, 

 varying in colour from a yellow or straw tint to com- 

 plete colourlessness. It has an acid reaction; its 

 consistence varies from almost that of water to that of 

 the denser portions of white of egg. Its specific gravity, 

 too, has a wide margin of variation. Specimens taken 

 from several cobras and mixed gave a specific gravity 

 of r058. It has a very bitter taste, which is chiefly 

 perceived along the margin of the tongue, and a faint 

 sickly odour. Daboia-venom is, however, without the 

 bitter taste. When cobra-poison is evaporated it loses 

 from 50 to 75 per cent, of water, and a yellow substance 

 easily pulverizable, resembling gum arable or dried egg 

 albumen, is left behind. This substance possesses all 

 the physiological properties of cobra-poison, and it can 

 be kept in this state for years. Examined microscopi- 

 cally, cobra-poison is found to consist of a perfectly 

 structureless plasma, in which a few bodies are to be 

 detected. These bodies vary much, but if the poison is 

 taken from a very active, healthy, and vigorous cobra, 

 and care be used to prevent the admixture of mucus 

 from the mouth, the number of structures to be ^een 

 will be very few ; whereas the poison of a cobra that 



