1896-97.] Prof. Fraser on Properties of Bile of Serpents. 457 
The Antivenomous Properties of the Bile of Serpents 
and other Animals ; and an Explanation of the 
Insusceptibility of Animals to the Poisonous Action 
of Venom introduced into the Stomach. By Pro- 
fessor Fraser, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S. 
(Read July 5, 1897.) 
{Abstract.) 
In a paper communicated to this Society I stated that, when 
introduced into the stomach of an animal, serpents’ venom pro- 
duces no obvious injury, even when the quantity is so large as to 
be sufficient to kill 1000 animals of the same species and weight if 
the venom were injected under the skin.* The failure of so highly 
toxic a substance to produce poisoning when it is administered by 
the stomach might be due to chemical changes produced upon it 
by the secretions of the stomach and intestines, or to non-absorb- 
ability into the blood from the stomach and intestines. It is 
already known that the toxicity of venom is not materially reduced 
by gastric digestion. Although at first sight incompatible with 
the innocuousness of stomach administration, this fact is not in 
reality a contradiction of it, for the absorbing power of the stomach 
for many organic substances — even for strychnine — has been shown 
to be extremely slight, and their entrance into the circulation 
appears to occur not in the stomach but in the intestines. 
As serpents’ venom introduced into the stomach is not rendered 
innocuous by the stomach secretions, while, notwithstanding, it 
fails to cause poisoning, it may be assumed that the stomach walls 
are incapable of absorbing it. If, like other poisons, it can be 
absorbed from the intestines, the explanation of the failure to 
produce toxic symptoms when it is administered by the stomach 
might depend on a chemical or physiological destruction of its 
toxic properties by some substance or substances which it encoun- 
* Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, vol. xx., 1894-5, p. 471. 
YOL. XXI. 27/7/97. 2 G 
