466 



Dr. T. L. Brunton and Sir J. Fayrer [June 20, 



less action upon the poison than one would expect, and it prolongs 

 life to a very slight extent. Liqaor potassae impairs the activity 

 of the poison very considerably, and prolongs life for several hours. 

 When a large dose of cobra poison is injected, none of these sub- 

 stances prevent death even when applied immediately to the wound. 

 The reason of this probably is that they do not come into such perfect 

 contact with the poison as to destroy the whole of it, and the portion 

 which escapes destruction is sufficient to kill. It is possible, however, 

 that when minimum doses only are injected, the local application of one 

 or other substance may turn the balance between life and death, but 

 this point we must reserve for a future paper. 



Our first experiment was made in order to compare the action of 

 chloride of platinum alone with that of cobra poison alone, and of 

 chloride of platinum injected after cobra poison. 



Experimenl I. 



February 25th, 1878. A cat weighing 4 lbs. had about 1 cub. centim. 

 of the chloride of platinum solution of the British Pharmacopoeia 

 injected into its flank. 



3.44 p.m. Injection completed. 



3.55 „ No apparent effect. The cat well and playful. 



No symptoms whatever were observed, but after some days a slough 

 formed at the point of injection. Chloride of platinum thus appears 

 to have no physiological action whatever when injected subcutaneously 

 beyond its effect as a local irritant. 



In Experiments II and III similar doses of cobra poison were sub- 

 cutaneously injected into two cats ; but in Experiment III the injection 

 of the poison was followed immediately by the injection of a solution 

 of chloride of platinum into the same spot, so as if possible to destroy 

 the venom which had not yet been absorbed. In this case death was 

 delayed, but not to a very great extent, as it occurred in an hour and 

 fifty minutes after the injection of the venom and chloride of platinum, 

 and in an hour and two minutes in the animal which received the 

 poison alone. 



Experiment II. 



Black cat, weight 5 lbs. 



25 mgms. of cobra poison dissolved in 1 cub. centim. of distilled 

 water injected into skin of flank at 3.26 p.m. of 25th February. 



3.28 p.m. Vomiting. It had taken chloroform to keep it quiet whilst 

 being weighed, and was recovering from the chloroform. Micturated. 

 Drooping head on one side. 



3.32 p.m. Vomiting again. Looks much depressed. Defecated. 



3.40 „ Breathing slow. Shallow. 



3.41 ,, Vomiting again. 



3Ao „ Twitching of muscles. 



