179 



CHAPTER VII. 



PHYSIOLOGY OF POISONING (continued). 



Effects of the Various Venoms on the Different Tissues 



OP THE Organism. 



The physiological effects of the various venoms are very 

 different from those that we have just described, v^^hen these 

 toxic substances are introduced into the organism otherwise than 

 subcutaneously. 



Their direct penetration into the blood-stream, whether by 

 the bite of the snake itself or by experimental intravenous injec- 

 tion, always produces immediate results. With the venoms of 

 ViPBRiD^, coagulation of the blood and, consequently, death are 

 almost instantaneous. With the venoms of Colubrid.^, which, 

 on the contrary, destroy the coagulability of the blood, the toxic 

 effects are less rapid, but after the lapse of only a few minutes 

 asphyxia ensues and the death-struggle is very short. 



Absorption by the serous membranes is slower, but is never- 

 theless eflfected much more quickly than when it takes place in 

 the subcutaneous cellular tissue. When cobra-venom is injected 

 into the peritoneal cavity of a rabbit or a guinea-pig, the local 

 effects upon the serous membrane are almost nil. No leucocytic 

 exudation is observed ; death supervenes before this has had 

 time to take place. The venoms of Viperid^, on the contrary, 

 produce, directly after their introduction into the peritoneum, an 

 enormous afflux of sanguinolent serosity; the capillary vessels 

 of the serous membrane, immediately becoming distended, allow 

 the blood to filter through their walls, and the animal succumb? 



