of ammonia, 



80 THE LAND-MAKKS OF 



and even the muscles themselves, leading to 

 paralysis of the muscles of respiration, etc., and 

 consequent death by asphj^ia ; and on the other 

 hand, through the blood on the heart, causing 

 it to cease to act in systole* these different 

 results being dependent on the quantity of 

 poison injected, and the manner of its injection. 

 Fontanaon The treatment that has enjoyed such a re- 



the intravenous . , , , . , . ,, 



injection putatiou m Australia, and which is generally 

 believed to have originated with Dr. Halford, was 

 in great repute in Italy nearly a century ago, as 

 the following extract from a letter -I* from Fonta- 

 na to M. Gibelin will show : — 



" It is very true that our Italian journals 

 report cures by atntnonia injected into the veins 

 of persons bitten by the vipers : and it is also 

 true that these cases partake of the marvellous, 

 and almost of the miraculous. It appears, more- 

 over, that certain individuals have had great 

 pleasure in assuring the public that a true speci- 

 fic against the poison has been discovered, that 

 which I had sought in vain for many years, and 

 which with philosophical candour I had declared 



* There appear to be very good grounds for doubting 

 whether cobra-poison ever acts on the heart in this w.ay. 



iMedical Times and Gazette, August 23id, 1873. 



