136 THE LAND-MARKS OF 



not kla tT' poison ever kills by tetanizing the heart, as was 

 ""Stftaf ° supposed by Fayrer and Brunton, and I think 

 '"medSteiy"" there are grounds for believing that he is correct 



stops the ac- . , . . — . , _ , . 



tion of the res- m his view. In Very rapid cases oi poisoning, 



piratory cen- 



• *™- instead of the gradual extinction of the function 

 of the cerebro-spinal centres, the poison, he says, 

 appears to act almost immediately by stopping 

 the action of the respiratory centre. He fully 

 describes and illustrates by stethometric charts 

 the effects of cobra-poison upon the respiration. 

 Briefly stated they are : slight quickening, with 

 increase of the excursus, followed by rapidly in- 

 creasing retardation, with a certain amount of 

 lessening of the excursus — the latter being less 

 affected than the former; sudden and abrupt in- 

 spiration, followed by an equally sudden expira- 

 tion, until the respiratory effort is entirely 

 abolished, and after a pause the convulsions of 

 asphyxia terminate life. Cobra-poison exercises 

 little influence upon the circulation and tempera- 

 ture,-f nor has it any particular effect upon the 



t If Wolfenden is correct in his analysis, it, must be 

 found that there is relatively little albumen-venom in 

 cobra-poison, since he states that this element of the 

 poiiion produces a striking fall of temperature. 



