330 Sir L. Brunton, Sir J. Fayrer, and Dr. L. Kogers. [Feb. 22, 



and were thus mostly proportionally larger doses than a Cobra could 

 eject in the case of a man. The tissues of a rabbit are also more 

 delicate than those of a cat or of a man, so that absorption of the 

 poison may be unusually rapid in rabbits, which are extremely 

 susceptible to snake venoms. 



Turning next to the results of the experiments on cats, much more 

 satisfactory results were obtained. Thus, the control experiments 

 showed that 1 milligramme per kilogramme produced death in 50 

 hours, this being the minimal lethal dose of the Cobra venom used in 

 these experiments for cats (Experiment 15). A dose of 5 milligrammes 

 per kilogramme caused death in 28 hours, the time having probably 

 been prolonged by the application of a ligature after the injection 

 (Experiment 12). A dose of 10 milligrammes per kilogramme proved 

 fatal in 3 hours, although a ligature had been applied as in the treated 

 cases (Experiment 8). On comparing the result of treated cases with 

 the above control we find only one death occurred in six experiments. 

 The one fatal result took place after a dose of 5 milHgrammes per 

 kilogramme (Experiment 9), this having been the first case treated, in 

 which the permanganate was not as thoroughly rubbed in, and the 

 site of injection was not as completely exposed as in later experiments, 

 and in chis case death did not take place until over 30 hours. On the 

 other hand, in Experiment 7 recovery took place after 10 milligrammes 

 per kilogramme (ten lethal doses), while in two other cases recovery 

 took place after five lethal doses had been injected, in one of which 

 (Experiment 11) 5 minutes were allowed to elapse before the treatment 

 was carried out, while in Experiment 13 recovery ensued from lethal 

 doses treated 10 minutes after injection. 



The above results are very encouraging, for it appears from 

 D. D, Cunningham's observations that the average amount of venom 

 ejected by a full-sized Cobra is not more than ten lethal doses for a 

 man, while other writers give much smaller amounts. Further, in 

 many cases, the full dose will not actually be injected into the human 

 tissue for various reasons. 



In Table III a similar series of experiments with Daboia venom are 

 summarised. Here again, in the case of rabbits, only very marked 

 prolongation of life was obtained, although the dose used in Experi- 

 ment 17 was less than four lethal doses, so that it is clear that in the 

 case of rabbits the method was not very successful. 



On the other hand, the experiments with cats were as successful as 

 in those of the Cobra series given above ; for only one of the six cases 

 treated with permanganate died, and in this instance (Experiment 21) 

 the very large dose of 50 milligrammes per kilogramme was injected, 

 and the treatment was delayed for 5 minutes. This dose is probably 

 relatively larger than could be injected by any known viper in the 

 case of a full-grown man. Further, in this case death did not take 



