1878.] 



on Destroying the Activity of Cobra Poison. 



471 



4.19 p.m. Paralysed, and crawls with difficulty ; all hind quarters 

 invaded by poison's influence. 



4.21 p.m. Paralysis extending ; struggles to rise ; can only move the 

 head. Reflex from eye diminished. 



4.25 p.m. Convulsive movements. 



4.28 ,, Dead in 45 minutes. Heart continued to beat after appa- 

 rent death. 



Experiment XI. 



Red guinea-pig, weight 16 oz. At 3.46 p.m., 1st March, 3 mgms. 

 of cobra poison, dissolved in 2 cub. centims. of distilled water and 

 mixed with '01067 chloride of zinc, were injected subcufcaneously. The 

 poison and the chloride were mixed 5 minutes before injection. 



5.53 p.m. Guinea-pig restless; twitching; grunting; keeps licking 

 the puncture ; irritable with other guinea-pigs. 



4 p.m. Yery restless. Puncture seems irritable ; leg partially pa- 



ralysed. 





4.15 p.m. 



Much the same. 



4.29 „ 



Much the same. 



4-35 „ 



Not quite so restless. 



4.45 „ 



Active ; runs about. 



4.45 „ 



Restless ; not worse. 



5 



Seems pretty well now. 



Died about 7 o'clock. 



Liquor potassae impairs the activity of the poison, but does not 

 destroy it, as will be seen from Experiment XII, in which the dose of 

 the poison, which had usually proved fatal considerably within an 

 hour, did not cause death until 8 hours had elapsed. 



Experiment XII. 

 March 14th. Guinea-pig, weight 16 oz. 



5 mgms. of cobra poison dissolved in 1 cub. centim. water mixed 

 with 1 cub. centim. of liquor potasses injected into hip at 3.52 p.m. 

 3.53 p.m. Twitching. 

 4.0 ,, Leg paralysed. 

 4.20 ,, It seems much the same. 

 4.35 ,, Appears much the same. 

 4.55 ,, Appears much the same. 

 5.35 ,, Much the same. 



At 11.30 it was lying with left hind leg paralysed, could walk when 

 irritated, mouth opened, head twitching back frequently. 



11.45 p.m. its respiration ceased, but when the skin of the belly was 

 pinched the animal took a breath and respiration continued for about 

 a minute afterwards. The heart continued to beat until 11.50. 



Liquor ferri perchloridi fortior (B.P.), has much less action upon 



