180 THE POISONOUS SNAKES OF INDIA. 



when once introduced into living tissues is locked up in them so 

 tenaciousljr that it can onlj- with great difficulty, and then ouly im- 

 perfectly be brought into chemical relationship with neutralising 

 agents of this class. 



Colonel Bannerman has convincingly shown from a large series of 

 experiments on living animals that permanganate is for all practical 

 purposes of little if any avail. In these experiments, some of which 

 I witnessed, the tissues were cut into after the injection of venom 

 by a hypodermic syringe speciallj- fitted on to the fang of a Russell's 

 viper, thoroughly opened up and permanganate was then (within jt 

 second or two) rubbed into the incised wounds. The circumstances 

 were obviously far more favourable than could possibly ever obtain 

 in a bitten subject in medical practice, yet the salt rarely reprieved 

 the death sentence. 



(B) Mechanical. — The measures which have been suggested, and 

 practiced with a view to mechanically preventing the venom being 

 absorbed into the general cii'culation are (a) Ligature, (b) Excision, 

 and (c) Amindation. 



In a paper read by me at the Bombay Medical Congress in 1909 

 I attempted to show the dubitalDle value of all these measui-es, my 

 opinion being based on the experiments of FajTer, and i-eported in 

 his Thanatophidia of India. I repeat these considerations here. 



Ligature. 



I think I am fairly if not completelj^ accurate when I say that 

 in every text book treating of the subject of snake poisoning, liga' 

 ture is recommended as one of the most essential practices to be 

 adopted. This being so it appears to me that the lessons to be 

 learnt from the magnificent experimental work carried out by the- 

 late Sir Joseph Faja-er have gone completely unnoticed. I will quote- 

 some of the experiments conducted by that authority,' and then 

 ask you if ligature as usually practiced is entitled to rank as the 

 valuable measure ^^■hich has unanimously been conceded to it. 



In experiment 4 of the 1 -jtli series a ligature well soaped to make 

 the knot run easy was tied " with the greatest amount of tension 

 that a man's hand could exert '' round a fowl's thigh before a bite 



