THE POISONOUS SNAKES OF INDIA. 13o 



not npheld from the records given by Calmette in support of his 

 <]aim, many of which I have attempted to show are open to every 

 donbt from a variety of causes (Indian Medical Gazette, August 

 1909). 



Antivenene must be injected into the tissues or blood of the bitten 

 subject, preferably into the blood stream. Its success depends upon — 

 (1) the freshness of the preparation employed ; (2) the time that 

 has elapsed since the casualty ; (3) the method adopted ; and (4) 

 the dose employed. The Kasauli preparation is claimed to retain 

 its virtues for one year, losing in this interval from 5 to 10 per 

 cent, of its power. It probably still further attenuates, but retains 

 a fair degree of virtue for much longer than a year. The shorter 

 the interval between the bite and the injection of the antidote, the 

 more favorable the chances of recoverj^. The results obtained from 

 direct injection into a vein are Tuore rapid and more pronounced 

 than those derived from injection into the tissues, and this treat- 

 ment may be the means of saving life even after a considerable 

 degree of paralysis has become manifest. The intravenous method 

 should obviously be left to the Surgeon alone. The dose recom- 

 mended by Lamb for intravenous injection in 1904 was at least 

 ooO cubic centimetres. Lamb and Martin more recently fix the 

 initial dose at 100 c. c. for the polyvalent serum now prepared at 

 Kasauli, which I was informed hy Colonel (now Sir David) Semple 

 has the same antitoxic value against cobra venom, volume for 

 volume, that the older antivenene possessed. A second or third 

 dose may be injected if the symptoms are not subdued. It is to be 

 noted that children and small persons require a larger dose than 

 adults. 



(3) SYMPTOMATIC TREATMENT. 

 The third line of treatment aims at combating the effects 

 wrought by snake venom after absorption into the system. Scores 

 of reputed remedies of animal, vegetable, and mineral origin have 

 received the attention of various experimentalists in this field. 

 3Iany have been suggested by a knowledge of the action of agents 

 used in Western medicine, many others owing to reputed virtues 

 .ascribed to them by the natives of the East. None of these how- 

 ever when submitted to a thorough test in the lower animals have 



