220 
H. C. YARROW. 
Thanatophidia of India,” being a description of the venomous 
snakes of the Indian peninsula, with an account of the influence 
of their poison and life, and a series of experiments, London, 
1872. This work, beautifully illustrated with thirty-one imperial 
folio plates drawn from life by native artists, is a veritable monu¬ 
ment of patient research, and a most valuable contribution to our 
knowledge of the effect of the venom of the different poisonous 
snakes with which India is so abundantly supplied. Unfortu¬ 
nately, so far as mitigating the loss of human life is concerned, 
the author is obliged to admit that no plan of treatment can be 
absolutely relied upon, as he tested every known or asserted anti¬ 
dote. In treating a case of serpent bite he would employ liga¬ 
ture, excision, and general treatment. 
A number of other papers have appeared from time to time, 
all more or less valuable, by such well-known authors as Dr. 
Shortt of India, Harford of Australia, Brunton and Frayer, Vin¬ 
cent Richards, and others, but in none of them is an account of 
any discovery of a physiological or chemical antidote to serpent 
venom, once it is diffused through the circulation. 
In 1881, however, Dr. J. B. de Lacerda, director of the physi¬ 
ological laboratory of the National Museum of Bio de Janeiro, 
electrified the scientific world by announcing to the French 
Academy of Sciences that he had discovered in potassa perman- 
ganas an absolutely reliable chemical antidote to the venom of 
the bothrops, a poisonous South American genus of serpents. In 
the experiments which were made upon dogs, the venom dissolved 
in water was injected beneath the animal’s leg, and in from one 
to two minutes afterward a one per cent, solution of permanga¬ 
nate of potassa was thrown into the wound made by the syringe. 
In other cases the permanganate solution was thrown directly into 
a vein, and out of thirty cases only two of the animals succumbed 
to the effects of the bothrops venom. In some instances the per¬ 
manganate was not employed until the characteristic symptoms of 
poison manifested themselves. He formally expressed himself 
that in this salt we possess an absolutely reliable chemical 
antidote. 
It was not to be supposed that such astonishing results could 
