THE POISON OF VENOMOUS SERPENTS. 
73 
Observations. -The first bite of a Cobra de Capello generally proves fatal to chickens, especially 
where the snake is alert, as in the present case: the second chicken, it is true, was bitten less fiercely, but its 
escape was also remarkable. 
Experiment XXVII. October 30,1788.-A chicken was bitten on the thigh by a Cobra de Capello. One 
fang at least had acted, and poison remained on the skin, where the holders had left visible marks. After two 
minutes, the part, without scarification, was washed with the vitriolic acid, a little diluted. The bird was not 
infected. 
Observations.- -When trial was made of the caustics, it was not from any notion of their acting im¬ 
mediately upon the poison by ail acid, alkaline, or neutral quality, but rather as preventing its absorption, in 
the manner of the actual cautery, by destroying the vascular texture of the parts. From the small number of 
experiments made, it would be rash to draw general conclusions; but on comparing the various results, it suf¬ 
ficiently appears that the remedy often failed, though applied from four to fifteen minutes after the bite; 
that it almost invariably failed when applied later; and that where the infected subject escaped with life, a 
much greater number of trials would still be required for ascertaining the merit to be ascribed to the caustics. 
Like the actual cautery, they require to be applied early; and the application of both to certain parts would 
be liable to similar objections. That is, the risk of irreparable injury to a limb, which ought not to be incurred, 
unless where life itself is visibly in danger : a point in many cases not easily determined from the concomitant 
symptoms, at the beginning, or before the poison has made considerable progress. 
This last objection applies also to amputation, which has been found an effectual remedy in respect to 
young guinea pigs, where the operation was performed within five or six minutes after the bite of the viper.* 
A few experiments of amputation which I made on chickens and pigeons, proved unsuccessful: but perhaps 
the operation was too long deferred. 
Experiment XXVIII.-A Cobra de Capello, after biting a dog twice, was made to bite a pigeon on the 
lower part of the thigh, and in one minute, the limb was cut oft'a little above the punctures. A good deal of 
blood was lost. 
The bird survived two hours, remaining for the most part couched and drooping; but for one minute before 
death, it suffered violent convulsions. 
Upon dissecting the amputated limb, it was found that the discoloration of the muscle extended nearly half 
an inch above the punctures, reaching almost to the place of amputation. 
Experiment XXIX.--A ligature applied immediately, to dogs, after being bitten in the leg by a 
Cobra de Capello, failed in preventing the progress of the poison, in the few trials I had an opportunity of 
making ; but the trials were too few to establish the inutility of the practice.-j- 
Observations.- Suction of the infected wound, and the application of leeches, I never tried ; but their 
inutility in Europe, in the viper poison, seems by experiments to be placed beyond doubt. £ 
Experiment XXX. Decefnber 17.-To the thigh of a chicken, bitten by a Cobra de Capello, (which 
had remarkably short fangs, and had been kept for two months without food,) was applied, after a slight in¬ 
cision, a snake-stone, which adhered for a minute or two, and then dropped off. The usual signs of poison 
soon appeared, but the bird survived one hour and ten minutes. 
Observations. -The stone employed on this occasion was one I had received as a present in Syria, 
from a gentleman who had resided in Egypt, and who assured me, that in a long series of years at Alexandria, 
the stone had acquired such reputation for the cure of venomous bites, as had produced frequent applications 
for the loan of it; and that its efficacy had been confirmed by numerous trials. A single experiment proves 
but little, and I found no disposition to make more. 
The inutility of what are called snake-stones, has been shown sufficiently by Fontana's experiments; § and 
* Traite' sur le Venin de la Vipere, Tome IV. p. 16. 
f As above, p. 12. 
f See the work last referred to, p. 16. 
§ Traite, Tome II. p. 73. 76. 
