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The Influence of Cobra-venom on the Proterd Metabolism. 
By James Scott, M.D., C.M., B.Sc. Edin. 
(Communicated by Sir Thomas R. Fraser, F.R.S. Received February 6,— 
Read April 6, 1905.) 
(From the Research Laboratory of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh.) 
Although so much valuable work has been done upon the physiological 
action of Cobra-venom by Fraser, Calmette, Elliot and others,* so far no 
observations of its effects upon the metabolism have been recorded. While its 
peculiarly selective action on the central nervous system would seem to 
suggest the absence of any marked general action, the demonstration afforded by 
Elliot’s work of its influence and the way in which peripheral nerve mechanism 
may be attacked, and of its interference with respiration, and the direct local 
action on the tissues into which it is injected, seem to indicate that its toxic 
action may extend to protoplasm generally and that it may thus lead to 
modification of the proteid metabolism, whether in the direction of altering 
the rate of proteid metabolism or of modifying the synthetic processes in the 
liver by which urea is elaborated, as do the toxins of certain micro-organisms. 
I have to thank Sir Thomas R. Fraser for his kindness in giving me the 
Cobra-venom; and also to thank Dr. Noél Paton for much valuable assistance 
in this investigation. 
General Plan of Investigation and Methods. 
Dogs were used for this investigation. Before each experiment they were 
fed for some days on a fixed diet of oatmeal porridge and milk in order to 
establish nitrogenous equilibrium. The urine was collected by keeping the 
animal in a cage with a sloping bottom made of zinc under which a suitable 
vessel was placed. The floor was kept scrupulously clean, and feces were 
removed as soon as possible after they were passed. The urine was collected 
daily at 10 A.M. 
When the animal came into nitrogenous equilibrium, sub-lethal and in 
some cases lethal doses of Cobra-venom were injected subcutaneously. 
Urine—The reaction and specific gravity were taken. The quantity 
collected was noted and the urine diluted to a convenient volume. The 
amounts of the following ingredients were determined by the methods 
* See Fayrer: ‘Thanatophidia of India’; Brunton and Fayrer, ‘Roy. Soc. Proc.,’ 
vol. 22, 1874; Wall, ‘Indian Snake Poisons,’ 1883 ; Nicholson, ‘ Ophiology,’ 1893. 
