66 
EXPERIMENTS ON REMEDIES APPLIED AGAINST 
Observations. -It may be remarked in general, that in the first five or six experiments on birds, the 
poison was inserted into the thigh ; either a lancet or a needle being employed for the operation : in the suc¬ 
ceeding experiments, the operation was variously performed, and in various parts. In the first twenty instances, 
the operation proved fatal only once; (Exp. XVI.) though in most of them the poison produced some local 
affection, as swelling and discoloration about the incisions. 
In both instances, (Exp. XIX.) where the experiments succeeded completely, the poison was inserted into 
the belly of the pectoral muscles, by the hook ; whereas in most of the former experiments, the thigh was the 
usual place of insertion, and a lancet, or a scalpel, was the instrument used : but in Exp. XVII. and XVIII. the 
same mode of operating had failed ; and afterwards in three instances, had either been equally unsuccessful, or 
produced only local symptoms. (See Exp. XIX. XX. XXVI.) 
As to the place of insertion, there seemed to be little difference between the pectoral and biceps muscles ; 
both appeared, in birds, to be preferable to the inside of the thigh ; at least no instance, where the operation 
was performed in the thigh only, proved fatal. 
I suspected that the constant failure in the first experiments might have sometimes been imputed to the 
bleeding of the incision, which, though for the most part very inconsiderable, might have been sufficient to im¬ 
pede the absorption of the poison, and particularly where the muscles were laid bare. Various experiments in 
the sequel contradicted this conjecture ; which, however, led me at first to try the simple abrasion of the skin. 
See Exp. XXVII. XXVIII. XXIX. 
The mode, by abrasion, seemed, from the few trials made of it, less uncertain of taking effect, than some of 
the others which were more operose ; but the poison was much slower in its operation, than in Exp. XIX. 
SECTION VI. 
Experiments on Remedies , applied against the Poison of venomous Serpents. 
In many cases where the poison is applied to brute animals, its progress is so extremely rapid, as hardly 
to leave time for the operation of a medicine, or the application of any means whatever, with a probabi¬ 
lity of success. Where its progress is slower, should the remedy be administered before unequivocal symptoms 
have removed all doubt of the poison having taken effect, recovery may be ascribed to the medicine given, 
when, in reality, no malady existed ; and if deferred till doubts are removed, the remedy which, if applied in 
time, might have proved efficacious, may come to be unjustly proscribed as useless. To this it may be added, that 
a bite of the most pernicious snake does not constantly prove fatal; and that even the tenderer animals, some¬ 
times without the use of remedies, recover, in instances where the symptoms were very formidable. 
Similar difficulties in estimating the efficacy of medicines occur, in some degree, in many diseases ; but belong 
in a more peculiar manner to animal poisons. A multitude of repeated experiments, only can justify general 
inferences ; and in transferring such inferences to the human subject, analogical reasoning should be exercised 
with the most scrupulous caution. 
From the experiments detailed in the foregoing sections, it sufficiently appears, that the several poisons men¬ 
tioned, though in different degrees, are all deleterious 
That the sjuuptoms produced by them in the bodies of different animals are very much alike. 
That the progress of these symptoms after they commence, is nearly in the same order of progression, though 
in different degrees of rapidity. 
That a like variation is observed in the commencement of the symptoms. Sometimes it is almost instanta¬ 
neous ; in general from three to ten minutes ; but very seldom later than half an hour. 
That when the snake is first caught, its bite infects with more certainty than when kept some time : but the 
deleterious quality of the poison, though impaired, is not by captivity (even where accompanied by long fasting) 
