166 VENOMS 



The addition of glycerine in equal parts to a concentrated 

 solution of venom is also an excellent means of preservation. 



Phisalix has shown that the emanations from radium attenuate 

 and then destroy the virulence of Cobra- and also of Viper-venom. 



" Dry Viper-venom, dissolved in aqua chloroformi in the pro- 

 portion of 1 ill 1,000, is put up in four tubes, three of which are 

 irradiated, the first for six hours, the second for twenty hours, and 

 the third for thirty-six hours. Three guinea-pigs, of equal weight, 

 are inoculated with equal quantities of the irradiated venom ; a 

 control receives the non-irradiated venom. The latter dies in ten 

 hours ; the animal inoculated from the first tube dies in twelve 

 hours ; the one inoculated from the second tube in twenty hours, 

 and the third proves resistant without any symptom of poisoning. 

 A second inoculation produces a transitory lowering of the animal's 

 temperature by half a degree. At the end of four days it dies after 

 inoculation with a lethal dose." 



The nature of the solvent exerts a great influence upon the 

 action of the emanations from radium : if the same experiment 

 be performed with venom dissolved in a 50 per cent, mixture of 

 glycerine and water, the attenuation is merely relative after six 

 hours. 



Auguste Lumiere and Joseph Nicolas, of Lyons, conceived the 

 idea of studying the effect upon venom of the prolonged action of 

 the intense cold produced by the evaporation of liquid air.^ The 

 Cobra-venom employed by these investigators was in solution at 

 a strength of 1 in 1,000. It was submitted to the action of liquid 

 air, partly for twenty-four hours and partly for nine days at - 191° C. 

 Its toxicity was in no way diminished. 



Lastly, I must mention the recent researches of Hideyo 

 ' Province medicale, 21 Septembre, 1901. 



