452 Proceedings of Royal Society of EdinhurgJi. [sess. 
From Africa, the kindness of Mr Wm. Smith, a distinguished 
naturalist of Cape Town, of Dr Brock of the Orange Free States, 
and of Dr John Murray and Mr Van Putten of Cape Colony, has 
placed at my disposal small quantities of the venom of the pufi 
adder {Vipera arietans)^ the night adder {Aspidelaps lubricus), 
the yellow cobra {Naja liaie), and the “King Hals Slang” or 
“ Kinkas ” (Sepedon hsemacliates ) ; and Dr John Anderson, formerly 
Professor of Natural History at Calcutta, has, only last week, for- 
warded to me living specimens of the Vipeva cerastes^ to be followed 
by living specimens of the cobra, which his present connection with 
the zoology of Egypt has given him peculiar facilities to obtain. 
In the meantime, however, further evidence has been obtained 
in support of the reality of the probabilities to which I have 
referred. Sewall, using the venom of the rattlesnake, Kanthack 
that of the cobra, and Kaufmann and Phisalix and Bertrand that of 
the viper, obtained experimental evidence of the possibility of 
producing by “ inoculation ” a certain slight degree of resistance 
against the toxic effects of these venoms. The relationship of 
such observations to the recent discoveries in connection with the 
toxines of Tetanus, Diphtheria and other diseases, could not long 
remain unrecognised. Dr Bancroft and others have recently 
suggested “that the blood of animals rendered immune to snake 
venom might be found of service as a remedy in snake-bite.” 
Within the last few months, Phisalix and Bertrand have obtained 
experimental indications of the antidotal power of the blood- 
serum of animals immunized, but only to a low degree, against the 
venom of vipers ; while Calmette, working in the Pasteur Institute 
of Paris, after several unsuccessful endeavours had led him to 
express the opinion that immunity against snake venom could not 
be produced, afterwards succeeded in obtaining evidence of its 
production, and of the power of the blood-serum to counteract the 
effects of venom. 
In the case of many of the venoms which I have had the 
good fortune to obtain, the quantity at my disposal was not 
sufficient for experimental examination on the plan that seemed 
desirable, and, besides, the examination of each of them would require 
several months of work. In this, the first portion of the investiga- 
tion, therefore, the venoms that have been used are only four in 
