EFFECTS OF THE VENOM 



267 



sick. Paralysis affected his legs, and he became cold. Artificial 

 respiration was now resorted to, but at 2 p.m. he became very 

 feverish and insensible, and died at 4 p.m. 



Bungarus fasciatus Schneider. — -The effects of the poison of 

 B.fasciatus have been carefully studied by Wall, Lamb, and Rogers. 



In acute cases death takes place quickly from failure of respira- 

 tion; the blood is coagulated, and there is paralysis, and sometimes 

 convulsions. 



Chronic cases, on the other hand, last for days, during which 

 there is loss of weight and emaciation, and perhaps some paralysis. 



Microscopical examination of the cortex of the brain, medulla, 

 and spinal cord shows diffuse chromatolysis, affecting a very con- 

 siderable portion of the ganglion cells, being most marked in the 

 cortex, next in the cord, least in the medulla. The cells show a 

 rather deeply stained plasma, in which are scattered dust-like 

 granules, the remnants of the Nissl bodies; many cells show vacuo- 

 lation of the plasma, and some are reduced to mere outlines (ghost 

 cells). 



Rogers' experiments tend to show that even in injecting large 

 doses the blood may not clot, and that the animal may be killed, 

 as in cobra-venom, by direct action of the poison on the respiratory 

 centre, and also on the nerve-endings of the phrenics, so that the 

 venom appears to be a mixture of a viperine with a colubrine 

 poison. 



The only authentic case of human poisoning by B. fasciatus is 

 mentioned by Fayrer, in which there was tingling sensation and 

 later pain at the seat of the punctures, with some swelling, all of 

 which disappeared in less than twenty-four hours. 



A^istralian Snakes. — -The symptoms produced by the bite of the 

 Elapinse in Australia are local swelling and pain, followed in from 

 fifteen minutes to two hours by constitutional symptoms. The 

 patient becomes unable to stand, signs of prostration, accompanied 

 by vomiting, appear. The circulation begins to fail, the heart's 

 action becomes weak, the extremities cold, and the skin blanched, 

 while the respiration, after a preliminary excitation, becomes 

 slowed. Coma now intervenes, the sensations being diminished 

 and the pupils dilated, and death results from failure of the respira- 

 tion, preceded sometimes by convulsions. The heart continues to 

 beat after the circulation has ceased. 



Elaps fulvius, the harlequin snake, which is found in the eastern 

 parts of the Southern United States, causes great local pain, fol- 

 lowed in one hour by drowsiness, unconsciousness, and collapse, 

 lasting until death, or for a day or so if the patient recovers. Death 

 usually ensues in about twenty-four hours after a bite, and in 

 persons tending to recovery the danger of death is not escaped until 

 three to four days have passed away, as the symptoms tend to 

 recur periodically. 



Spitting Snakes. — ^The known spitting snakes — ^■.e., snakes which 

 can project their venom to a distance — are Sepedon hcemochates, 



