478 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



The symptoms of cobra bile in man are a burning 

 sensation at the seat of the bite ; the spot becomes red and 

 swollen, and the pain and tenderness may extend. After 

 one-half to one hour the patient begins to feel weak in the 

 legs, and lethargic ; profuse salivation and inability to 

 speak and swallow occur ; nausea and vomiting are 

 frequent. Paralysis then becomes general, and the 

 patient's breathing gets slower and more laboured, 

 gradually diminishing until death takes place, with or 

 without convulsions. The patient may die in from two 

 to three hours. 



Bites from daboia, or Russell's viper, affect the patient 

 quite differently. The pain in the wound is exceedingly 

 severe, followed by swelling and discolouration, much 

 haemorrhage occurring at the site of the bite. Later the 

 constitutional effects appear. These consist in great pros- 

 tration, staggering gait, cold and clammy skin, and 

 vomiting ; convulsions frequently occur, and the patient 

 may die in about twelve hours after the bite. 



If he recover from the general symptoms, the local 

 effects of the bite continue to be prominent, much more so 

 than in cobra poisoning. Swelling and discolouration 

 continue, and the parts may become gangrenous, and the 

 patient lose a portion of the limb which has been bitten. 

 Hemorrhagic discharges from the lungs, nose and mouth 

 are also quite common in viper poisoning. 



To give an idea of the extreme toxic action of these 

 poisons, it has been estimated by Fraser that the minimum 

 fatal dose for a man is about 30 mgrms., and a full-sized 

 cobra, according to Calmeltte, is capable of injedting at 

 each bite a quantity of venom which in the dry state 

 amounts to 30*45 mgrms. 



A full-grown rabbit will succumb to about '8 mgrm. of 

 this poison, and a rat to '04 mgrm. 



