Bemarks on Some Experiments with Snahe-Venom. 
341 
The difference in the post-mortem lesions produced by the three 
venomous families of snakes are the following : — 
1. Opistoglypha. — No pathological anatomical alteration at all ; the 
poison is a simple one, a mere neurotoxine. 
2. Proteroglypha. — Local haemorrhages, slight haemolysis ; the poison 
consists of two components — a neurotoxine and a hcemotoxine. 
3. Solenoglypha. — Local haemorrhages and necrosis, haemolysis. 
Besides the neurotoxine there is a strong hcEmotoxine, which dissolves red 
blood corpuscles. It is yet doubtful whether the necrosis is due to a 
special component of the poison. 
Perhaps the haemolysine is able to destroy besides erythrocytes other 
cells in the same manner as haemolytic sera, which at the same time 
cause necrosis. 
With regard to the question as to whether snakes themselves are 
susceptible to snake-poisons, we made one experiment. 
0'25 c.c. original poison of Bitis arietans were injected partially sub- 
cutaneously, partially intraperitoneally into a large ? specimen of 
Ahlahophis rufulus — water-snake — which is non-poisonous. 
Symptoms. — Besides a slight excitement nothing particular the first 
day. The next day, however, the places of injection were swollen with 
haemorrhagic margins, and the epidermis came off ; scales mollified. 
The snake died the following night, i.e., about 36 hours after injection. 
Post Mortem. — The symptoms were the same as in mammalians, 
namely, infiltration of cutis and costal muscles round the places of 
injection, haemorrhagic spots on fat bodies and on the intestines. Liver 
and kidneys injected. Blood in heart not coagulated-hsemolytic. 
The water-snake possesses therefore not absolute but considerable 
immunity against the poison of the puff-adder, compared with the horse 
that received practically the same doses — the weight of the horse is about 
500 times greater, and it died within 9 hours. 
I here take the opportunity of thanking Dr. L. H. Gough for his 
most valuable assistance in carrying out these experiments. 
