THE POISON OF VENOMOUS SERPENTS. 
67 
destroyed. When it appears to have lost the power of killing larger quadrupeds, it still retains that of killing 
birds, though less speedily than at first. 
That when the snake is made to bite several times successively in the same day, the first bite, other 
circumstances being equal, is not only more certain of infecting, but in general proves more quickly dele¬ 
terious. 
That the poison of snakes does not invariably kill animals ; and that they sometimes unexpectedly escape 
from a concourse of dangerous symptoms ; though in general the danger of death is in proportion to the vio¬ 
lence, and early appearance, of these symptoms. 
That the period of death varies considerably. Dogs, in no instance, were killed in so short a time as birds : 
but the variation, with respect to both, so far as my experiments go, does not seem strictly correspondent to the 
size of the animals. 
That the artificial insertion of poison is less secure of taking effect than the bite of the animal; but the 
consequent symptoms are exactly the same, and the event, with respect to the smaller animals, not less fatal. 
For the trial of remedies, however, the bite of the reptile itself was always preferred to the artificial insertion 
of the poison. 
Several of the above inferences will be found of service to prevent certain effects, whether good or bad, from 
being ascribed erroneously to medicines, which properly belong to the disease in its natural course. 
On the poisons of the rattle snake and the viper, great pains have been bestowed, and much has been 
written ; but concerning the Cobra de Capello and the KatukaRekula Poda, to which the few following expe¬ 
riments solely relate, I have neither been able to avail myself of the prior labours of others, nor to collect much 
auxiliary information in India, which was not vague and imperfect. The little, therefore, I had it in my 
power to execute, and which is produced in the present Section, is to be considered merely as the commence¬ 
ment of a plan of investigation; which it is hoped will hereafter be more extensively and successfully prose¬ 
cuted in India, where the object in view is more peculiarly interesting, and where subjects for experiment are 
easily procured. 
A multitude of experiments, made in Europe, on the poison of the viper, having sufficiently confirmed the 
inefficacy of the most celebrated internal remedies, usually recommended against venomous bites, I was induced 
to give the preference for trial to an Indian remedy, sanctioned by unquestionable authority, as much used with 
perfect safety, and often with success. This was the Tanjore pill; of the composition of which, as a more par¬ 
ticular account is reserved for another place, it need only be observed here, that white arsenic is a principal 
ingredient; and that each pill of six grains, was supposed to contain somewhat less than three fourths of a grain 
of arsenic. 
Experiment I. July, 1787.-A small dog was made to swallow a Tanjore pill, and, immediately after, 
was bitten in the thigh by a Cobra de Capello; the half of another pill, dissolved, was rubbed on the punc¬ 
tures. Instantly on swallowing the medicine, and before the snake had touched the thigh, the dog discharged 
a quantity of saliva. 
The discharge continued about ten minutes ; but no symptoms of disorder appeared till towards the end of 
the first hour, when the dog howled, panted as he lay along, and suffered slight convulsions. In this state, a 
second pill was given, which excited the saliva as before, without any other evacuation. After dozing, as if 
comatous, for some time, the dog began to recover ; and, at the end of four hours, was very well 
Observations. -The first circumstance to be remarked here is, that the two pills produced no other 
evacuation than from the salivary glands, nor seemed to affect either the stomach or the bowels. 
The recovery, in appearance, was rather in favour of the medicine : but another dog, which had just before 
been bitten by the same snake, had recovered equally well from bad symptoms, without the aid of medicine ; 
and two chickens, bitten after the second dog, though both died, yet lingered unusually; the one an hour 
and a half, the other two hours. All that could here be safely concluded was, that two pills had produced no 
violent effects. 
