SNAKE-POISON LITEKATURE. 155 



of serpents, which as they observe, represented 

 only a part of an elaborate study of the poisons of 

 all their own genera of serpents. They expressed 

 a hope that their study might include that of a 

 number of foreign genera. " Our researches," 

 they observe, " have of late been rewarded by 

 so remarkable a discovery in toxicology, that it 

 has been thought well to announce it here rather 

 than to await their completion. We have, 

 therefore, selected from our notes such material 

 as seems to us of interest from its novelty." 



They remark, that in drying the venoms of /'^.^'H?' 

 the rattlesnake and moccasin, there is a loss ^no^^. 

 of nearly seventy-five per cent. This estimate 

 agrees with the loss as regards cobra-venom. 

 They point out, as a singular fact, that the 

 venoms above-mentioned could be subjected to 

 the boiling temperature of water (except the ^b^aS^"' 

 venom of the Grotalus adamanteus) without a 

 complete destruction of their poisonous power ; but 

 with a noticeable alteration of their physiological 

 properties. In the case of the Grotalus ada- 

 manteus or diaTuond-back rattlesnake, the tox- 

 icity of the venom is destroyed at a temperature 

 below 80° C. (176° F.) It will be recollected that 

 Wall found that the convulsion-producing pi:o- 



