SNAKE-POISON LITERATURE. 113 



I came to the conclusion — in which the Snake- 

 Commission concurred, — that the fluidity of the 

 blood is dependent upon, and in direct proportion 

 to, the amount of venom taken into the circulation. 



Dr. Mitchell, in common with all observers but 

 Dr. Halford, could find no particular abnorma- 

 lity in the blood corpuscles, or in the blood's ap- 

 pearance under the microscope.f He arrived at 

 the following conclusions : — 



" 1st. — That on animals which survive the 

 poisoning for a time, the blood is so altered as 

 to render the fibrin incoagulable. 



" 2nd. — Experiments in and out of the body 

 have given proof that the change is gradual, and 

 that the absence of coagulation is not due to 

 checked formation of fibrin, but to alterations 

 produced by the action of the venom in that 

 fibrin which already exists in the circulating blood. 



"3rd. — The influence thus exerted is of a 

 putrefactive nature, and imitates in a few hours 

 the ordinary results of days of change. It is 



f Brunton and Fayrer found the blood corpuscles ore- 

 oated in one case, but they believed that it was due to 

 rapid evaporation. 



