1904.] Easy Method of preventing Death from Snake Bite. 331 



place until upwards of 24 hours after the injection, while in a control 

 experiment with the same dose (Experiment 22) a fatal result occurred 

 in 4 hours. Further, with the same large dose recovery took place 

 when treatment was carried out ^ minute after injection. Again, 

 30 milligrammes per kilogramme (three lethal doses) killed a control 

 cat in 4J hours, but in three cases treated J, 5 and 10 minutes respec- 

 tively after injection all recovered, as did one after 10 milligrammes 

 per kilogramme, although a control with this last dose died in 30 — 40 

 hours. In all the experiments of both series the recovered animals 

 were alive and well 5 days and upwards after the injection of the 

 venoms, which is 2 days longer than death has ever taken place in any 

 of the control animals. 



The above results are very encouraging, as the Viperine poisons are 

 much less powerful, weight for weight, than are most of the Colubrines 

 and Hydrophidse, so that the amount of venom ejected by them can 

 seldom, if ever, be more than two or three times a lethal dose for 

 man. 



In the course of the experiments it was observed that, even when 

 the incision was made only 30 seconds after the injection of the poison 

 into the subcutaneous tissues, a distinct blood-stained effusion is found, 

 which serves as a very useful guide to the location and limits of the 

 injected poison ; after 5 or 10 minutes the effusion is more extensive, 

 and in these cases the incisions were prolonged up the limb for about 

 2 inches in order to try and destroy as much of the venom as possible. 

 The fact that as favourable results have been obtained after 5 minutes as 

 after J minute, may very possibly depend on the effusion noted materially 

 checking the absorption of the poisons, so that at the end of that time 

 the rate of absorption may become very much less rapid than during 

 the first few seconds after its injection. That a very rapid absorption 

 occurs during the first few seconds after the injection (probably on 

 account of the action of the poison in preventing clotting of the blood 

 locally) is certain, for it was shown by Fayrer many years ago that a 

 dog bitten in the tail by a full-sized Cobra died in spite of the tail 

 being cut off between the bitten part and the body a few seconds after 

 the bite. In such cases, however, the dose received is relatively much 

 larger than could be injected by a Cobra in the case of such a large 

 animal as man, so that in practise (except in the very rare cases where 

 the poison is injected directly into a vein) a fatal dose may not enter 

 the system for some considerable time after the bite. This probability 

 is supported by the fact that, in the case of Colubrine poisons at any 

 rate, the minimal lethal dose is the same whether the venom is given 

 subcutaneously or intravenously, yet it takes 1 or 2 days to produce 

 death when injected under the skin, but only 5 — 20 minutes when 

 inserted into a vein, so that under the former conditions the whole of 

 the poison does not enter the circulation for a long period. These facts 



