72 
EXPERIMENTS ON REMEDIES APPLIED AGAINST 
in five minutes, the incisions were made, and caustics applied. The dog hardly complained, he urined and had 
a stool, during the operation ; and when taken from the table, his limbs were found completely relaxed : he 
slid down, and lay along in a state of insensibility, without moving or complaining. In forty minutes, he was 
convulsed about the throat, and had a hiccup, which returned at short intervals, till his death : fifty minutes 
after the bite. 
Observations. -Though the caustics were applied in five minutes, the most alarming symptoms of 
poison had already made their appearance. The making no complaint when the caustics were applied, and 
total silence afterwards, showed a singular insensibility. 
Upon dissection, the membranes under the skin round the punctures, were found considerably inflamed ; 
and under the principal puncture, were become black, and covered with grumous blood: the blackness had 
even penetrated nearly half an inch into the subjacent muscle. 
I should have ascribed the blackness to the caustics, but under another puncture to which they also had 
been applied, the membranes were only shrivelled, and superficially discoloured. 
In the thigh bitten two days before, the membranes were found slightly inflamed, not black. The thoracic 
and abdominal viscera were sound. The blood contained in the auricle, and large veins near the heart, 
appeared less grumous, and of a darker colour than usual: when exposed in a vessel, it also seemed to co¬ 
agulate more slowly, while the crassamentum was less tough. But not having examined, in that climate, the 
blood of a dog not infected, I am in doubt how far the appearances in the thorax should be ascribed to 
poison. 
Experiment XXII. September 12, 1788.-A very stout dog was bitten by a Cobra de Capello, on the 
inside of the thigh, and the symptoms of poison were visible in a few minutes. In seven minutes the caustics 
were applied; but alarming symptoms advanced rapidly; both hinder legs were paralytic, and the head was 
convulsed most remarkably. He expired in two hours after the bite. 
Observations. -In this case, the stronger common caustic, (which I had received from Madras,) was 
employed instead of oil of tartar, and was applied before the vitriolic acid. But though the caustic was almost 
liquid, it made very little impression on the skin, which w r as more quickly and sensibly affected by the 
vitriolic acid ; on which account it seemed better to apply the vitriol first, and to use the caustic in the same 
manner as the oil of tartar. Scarification, in some degree, should perhaps precede the caustics. 
Experiment XXIII. September 12.-To a chicken bitten in the pinion, by a young Cobra de Capello, 
the caustic w r as first applied, (without scarification,) and then the oil of vitriol. In about forty minutes 
it was slightly convulsed, and died in one hour eight minutes, after the bite. To another chicken oil of vitriol 
alone was applied, in five minutes after the bite, the part having first been slightly scarified. Convulsions 
came on in less than fifteen minutes, and the bird expired in twenty-three minutes. 
Experiment XXIV. September 19.-A stout dog bitten on the thigh by a Cobra de Capello, appeared 
at first to be very slightly infected. In half an hour the part, which had swelled a little, was pretty deeply 
scarified, and the oil of vitriol applied alone, which seemingly gave much pain. The dog continued mostly on 
his legs, for an hour and a half. In half an hour more, he was seized with convulsions, particularly about the 
head and the throat, and expired at the end of three hours. 
Observations. -The symptoms in this case were at first so slight, that had the dog recovered, I should 
have doubted his being infected. 
Experiment XXV. September 30.-To another stout dog, which appeared to be very slightly infected, 
the oil of vitriol was in like manner applied, immediately after the bite. The application caused great pain; 
and the dog expired in one hour and forty-eight minutes. (See Exp. IV. Sect. II.) 
Experiment XXVI.-The thigh of a chicken bitten by a very alert Cobra de Capello, was immediately 
scarified, and had oil of vitriol applied to it. No symptoms of poison followed. 
Another chicken bitten immediately after by the same snake, escaped equally well, though no remedy 
was used. 
