1894-5.] Antivencne and Serpents' Blood-Serum. 473 
dose of cobra venom, and the mixture then injected under the skin 
of rabbits. When the quantity of Hamadryas serum was '15 c.c. per 
kilogramme of animal, death was not prevented : but as the animal 
did not die until more than seven hours, an antidotal effect had 
apparently been produced by this quantity of serum. In the second 
experiment, a larger quantity of serum was used — namely, *25 c.c. 
per kilogramme, and the result was entirely successful ] for not only 
did the animal survive, but no decided symptoms of poisoning were 
manifested during the six hours in which the animal remained 
under nearly continuous observation. 
Two experiments were also made in which this antivenene was 
administered thirty minutes after rather more than the minimum- 
lethal dose of cobra venom. In the first, the dose of antivenene 
was *3 c.c. per kilogramme ; but this dose was found to be an 
insufficient one, for the animal died in four hours. In the second 
experiment, *5 c.c. per kilogramme of antivenene was administered, 
in the same conditions as in the former experiment, and it proved 
to be a sufficient quantity, for the animal recovered, after manifest- 
ing only slight toxic symptoms. 
I hope by-and-by to extend these observations with blood-serum 
and venom, taken in more favourable circumstances, from the other 
and larger Hamadryas, which are now apparently in a state of 
excellent health. 
It has, however, already been possible to confirm these results 
with the blood-serum and venom of another species of serpent. 
Dr Thomas Bancroft, of Brisbane, Australia, has recently sent me 
the dried blood-serum of three black snakes {Pseudecliis porpliy- 
riacus) of that country, and also some dried venom removed from 
the poison-glands of the same three serpents. 
The venom, as it has reached me, is not a very active one, the 
minimum-lethal dose for rabbits being between *003 and *0035 
gramme for each kilogramme of animal. At the same time, although 
this serpent is a member of the Colubrine family, the irritative 
effects at the position of injection, and even more so on the kidneys 
following its absorption, are intense. In all the experiments made 
with the venom alone, the urine voided within a few hours was of 
a dark red, almost black colour, and was found to contain a large 
quantity of hsemoglobin, but no blood-cells. 
