DR. EVANS ON THE POISONED SPINES OF THE WEEVER FISH. 363 
commencement the respirations had slowed down to six per 
minute, with cardiac pulsations stronger, ninety-six per 
minute. At the eighth minute the respiration became very 
slow, while during the ninth minute respirations were very 
irregular, four per minute with clonic twitching of abdominal 
and leg muscles. During tenth and eleventh minute there 
were only two respirations per minute with clonic twitchings. 
in fact, death almost resulted from respiratory failure. During 
fifteenth minute the animal began to recover six respirations 
per minute and heart 126. The experiment was then com- 
pleted. 
In this case death did not result from the immediate action 
on the cardiac system, but the later effects on the respiration 
nearly ended in death. 
It would no doubt have been interesting from a scientific 
standpoint to have gone further and repeated these experi- 
ments after division of the nerves, but inasmuch as the 
poison is not in practice ever injected in sufficient quantity 
to cause death either by heart failure or respiratory failure, 
it seemed more important to study the local effects and the 
blood changes, which not infrequently result in man in 
phlegmonous inflammation and septicaemic conditions. 
H.EMOLYTIC ACTION OF WEEVER POISON. 
This has been studied up to a certain point by M. Briot. 
It has been established that Snake venom only produces 
haemolysis in certain animals unless there is also present 
certain components of serum. If red corpuscles are washed 
in normal saline and venom is added no solution occurs. 
But if normal serum heated to 62° C. is added haemolysis 
occurs. It is necessary to heat the serum to prevent an 
antihaemolysin present at low temperatures from protecting 
the erythrocytes against the solvent action of the venom. 
Briot has repeated these experiments of Calmette on Snake 
venom with Weever poison. In a series of test tubes he put 
a dro^r of washed corpuscles in suspension in 2 C.C. of normal 
saline ; he then added normal serum heated to 6o G C. for 
B 1 ? 2 
