88 THE POISONOUS SNAKES OF INDIA. 



(3) A vaso constrictor that increases blood pressure, and further 



stimulates the heart. (Lamb). 



(4) Agents affecting the constitution of the blood — 



(a) An anti-clotting ferment. ' (Lamb.) 



(/)) Hsemolysiu, that destroys red blood cells but feeble 

 in action. (Rogers.) 



(5) Haemorrhagin ? A principle damaging the lining membrane 



of blood vessels is probably present. 



ANALYSIS OF THE ACTION OF HAMADRYAD TOXINS. 



These are sufficiently detailed under the subject of Cobra venom. 



Lamb bj'' experiment on rabbits found hamadryad venom a» 

 virulent as cobra venom. Rogers by experiment on pigeons found 

 the virulence rather less than cobra venom. Rogers estimated 

 with some doubt that about ten lethal doses (for man ?) couid be 

 discharged at one bite. 



Being a much larger snake than the cobra, the mortality from 

 its bite is almost certainly much higher than in that species. 



Hamadryad Toxemia. 



Although there appear to be no records of hamadryad poisoning 

 in the human subject in which a fully detailed account of the 

 sj-mptoms are given, we may infer a great deal from the'researches 

 of Rogers on the lower animals. 



The points to be noted are that the venom acts almost exactly 

 like cobra venom, producing death by paralj-sing the respiratory 

 centre in the brain, which action is further augmented by a para- 

 lysis of the terminations of the phrenic nerves (the nerves that 

 contract the diaphragm, one of the most important muscles of 

 respiration). Its effects on the blood are but slight. From these 

 considerations, we may expect to find a bitten subject present 

 almost the same picture as in the case of the cobra, but bloody 

 discharges are still less likely to )3e met with. Local signs will be 

 present in some mai-ked degree (sfe page 103). 



