THE POISONOUS SNAKES OF INDIA. 141 



It is hnoa-ii, to be a specific to this form of toxaBuiia. and Jience 

 should be pushed as long as the symptoms continue tu inciva.se. If 

 the patient is seen in the last stages of toxtemia, and tlie breathing 

 stops, artificial respiration should be emploj'ed. and continued for 

 hours. Experiments conducted by the Indian Snake Poison Com- 

 mission in 1873 showed that animals could be kept ali\"e many 

 hours after breathing had ceased, and in one case a dog's death -i^-as 

 postponed by this means for thirty-seven hours and fifty minutes 

 So long as the circulation can be kept going, any antivenene inject- 

 efl may, probably will, fulfil its purpose. 



Owing to antiveiiene, and the wonderful effect of artificial respi- 

 ration in this toxsemia, we are better able to control, and success- 

 fnlly treat the effects of a supralethal dose (if ccibra poison than 

 that of any other of our fatal Indian snakes. 



Cases have been reported, it is true, where antivenene failed to 

 -ivert death. One explanation is probably that the dcjse of the 

 antidote was not sufficient. Another that it had iK>t retained its 

 virtue. A third that suggests itself is that the case may ha^'e lieen 

 complicated with syncope (though this is unusual), and suitable 

 measures to combat this were neglected. 



It would be quite possible for a man after the tcixic effects of 

 cobra venom had been completely nullified by anti-\-eneue. to die 

 from an attendant syncope due to fright, eti-., if this condition were 

 left unnoticed and untreated, death in such a case '\'\-ould almost 

 certainly be wrongly attrilDuted to cobra poisoning, and discredit 

 thrown upon an active • antivenene that had faithfully fulfilled its 

 mission. Treat syncope as detailed (p. 14G) and the wounds as 

 under Daboia (p. 143). 



Treatment of Hamadryad Poisonijn'k. 



No suitable antivenene* is available for this poisoning, and as we 

 have seen it is as potent as cobra venom, and that a muc-h larger 

 dose is likely to be discharged by so large a snake, the prcispects of 

 recovery are not good. Attention to the general state as laid down 

 under syncope (p. 146) offers the best hopes of benefiting- the 

 patient. A free excision of the wounds and treatment with jDer- 

 manganate may reduce the dose injected to something sidjlethal. 

 Later treat wounds as shown under Daboia (p. 143). 



* Lamb tested the efficacy of antivenene against this poison and found it useless. 



