APPENDIX. 



Dr, R. Norris-Wolfenden has been conduct- 

 ing further researches into the chemical nature 

 of cobra-venom, in the University College, 

 London, and has demonstrated beyond doubt, 

 I think, the proteid nature of the venom. So_ 

 far, he is in accord with Weir Mitchell and 

 Reichart ; but he still holds that if peptone be 

 present, it is only in traces and purely accidental, 

 and is certainly not a noxious element of the 

 venom. 



He entirely disposes of the supposition that 

 the venom owes its properties either to an 

 alkaloid, as suggested by Gautier, or to a non- 

 proteid body, as held by Blyth. He made exa- 

 minations of cobra-venom by the Stass Otto 

 method — the most reliable yet known — but failed 

 to find the slightest trace of an alkaloid, either 

 fixed or volatile. And in this particular, he 

 confirms the conclusions of Professor Wolcott 

 Gibbs, who made an investigation in this con- 

 nexion at the request of Weir Mitchell. 



On dialysing cobra-venom, and treating the 

 dialysates after Blyth's method,* Wolfenden found 



* Vide page 127. 



