218 
H. C. YARROW 
that if this little animal is left alone with a eobra, he is invariably 
victorious, but if bitten by the snake he inevitably succumbs. It 
is a curious fact, vouched for by Mr. Vincent Richards, that after 
the conflict the victorious mungoose gna\ys out the cobra’s fangs. 
Dr. Russell’s book is interesting as marking some onward progress 
in the study of venom, but it can hardly be considered as a very 
valuable contribution to knowledge. 
In 1799 a Mr. Boag, in studying methods of treatment in 
snake poisoning, advocated the use of nitrate of silver and nitric 
acid baths, as well as the salts of mercury, but curiously enough, 
he seems to place great reliance in human saliva as an antidote, 
probably because it was recommended by Seneca and the elder 
Pliny. Arsenic he unhesitatingly condemns as being as dangerous 
as the venom. He believed that death after snake bite resulted 
from an abstraction of oxygen from the blood, and to overcome 
this he proposed a speedy oxygenation of the system by artificial 
respiration, and other methods of procedure. This gentleman 
made a number of experiments to prove his theory, all of which 
were unsuccessful. 
In 1801 Mr. John Williams advocated the claims of ammonia 
as an antidote, and gave a history of several cases, which he be¬ 
lieved had been saved by this agent, and, in 1809, Dr. Macrae, 
who was bitten by a cobra, stated that his recovery was due to 
thirteen spoonfuls of ammonia which he swallowed. 
Mr. Breton, in 1825, published the results of a series of ex¬ 
periments with serpent venom, but he was evidently mistaken in 
his statement that “ an innoxious snake can be killed by the 
venom of a poisonous snake.” 
In Vol. II., 1826, of the “Medical and Physical Transac¬ 
tions of the Calcutta Society ” may be found an article by Dr. 
Daniel Butler on snake bite, in which he recommends the admin¬ 
istration of opium, brandy and sulphuric ether in cobra poison¬ 
ing, his treatment being founded upon the theory that the heart 
and arterial system are principally affected, an hypothesis now 
known to be untenable, as we know that the principal action of 
cobra poison is upon the respiratory centres. He also recom¬ 
mends the use of the ligature, dry cupping and suction of the 
wounds, and gives the history of several cases. 
