SNAKE BITE AND ITS ANTIDOTE. 
217 
Vipera,” a work so important that it has been translated into sev¬ 
eral languages. As an example of the amount of work done by 
. this industrious and learned Italian, it may be mentioned that he 
performed over 6,000 experiments, employed over 3,000 vipers, 
and had bitten more than 4,000 animals. His most important 
discoveries were, first, with regard to the actual position of the 
poison gland, which is above and behind the fang, Mead and 
James having declared that the venom was contained in the fang 
sheath ; second, that the venom of a viper was not hurtful to the 
reptile itself if injected beneath the skin, or if a bite was inflicted 
hy one of its own species; third, that venom was harmless to 
cold-blooded animals, such as leeches, slugs, snails, and some 
harmless serpents; fourth, that viper venom is poisonous to all 
warm-blooded animals; and fifth, that venom was not absorbed 
by mucous membranes. It is interesting to note that the conclu¬ 
sions of this distinguished naturalist’have been verified repeatedly 
by later observers. 
In 1777 M. Sage, of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, pub¬ 
lished a pamphlet recommending the use of ammonia in snake 
bite, which plan of treatment, however, was not original with him¬ 
self, as it had already been recommended by Jussieu. It was 
based upon the theory that the active principle of the venom was 
an acid salt, but Fontana, who later on performed a number of 
experiments with it, condemned ammonia as useless, if not hurt¬ 
ful. With regard to the acidity of venom, Mr. Vincent Rich¬ 
ards states that first it is acid, but soon becomes neutral, and this 
fact has been verified by the writer. 
In 1796 Hr. Patrick Russell studied the subject of serpent 
poisoning, and the results are embodied in a book which was pub¬ 
lished by the Court of Directors of the East India Company. 
He performed a number of experiments with Indian serpents, 
and brought into notice the famous Tanjore pill, the principal 
ingredient of which is arsenic, in which, it may be added, he 
seems to place but little reliance, as he recommends in addition 
either immediate amputation or the ligature. Dr. Russell, it is 
claimed, was the first to show the error of the popular belief that 
the mungoose is proof against the venom of the cobra. It is true 
