Dr. Chevers'a 



view 

 erroneous. 



SNAKK-POISON LITERATURE. 129 



after the injection of fresh venom. Recovery, 

 when it does occur, is always rapid and complete: 

 not so in viper-poisoning. 



The question of the fluidity or otherwise of the ,^^0^ m'tho 

 blood in persons poisoned by snake-venom is of *''°°^' 

 some importance, medico-legally. At page 376 of 

 Dr. Norman Chevers's important work on medico- 

 legal jurisprudence will be found the following 

 footnote : — " The reporter in the Lancet says the 

 blood was altogether dark, alkaline fluid (this 

 was thirty hours after death, in the month of 

 October), and it emitted a peculiar sour and sick- 

 ly smell, quite different from the odour common- 

 ly known to pervade the dead-house.* This is 

 quite contrary to Indian experience. The blood 

 drawn from an animal which has just died from 

 cobra-poison always coagulates firmly. The 

 blood of animals killed by Russell's viper does 

 not coagulate." Now this statement, coming 

 from so high an authority, is likely to mislead. 

 The conditions under which the blood remains 

 fluid, and under which it coagulates, are thus de- 

 scribed by the Indian Snake Commission : — 



* This is the report of a case in which a man was bitten 

 by a cobra at the Zoological Gardens, London, 



