SNAKE BITE AND ITS ANTIDOTE. 
363 
the further discharge of the serum, and with it the snake poison. 
He gives quite a long list of plants which have been used and 
recommended. 
Dr. A. Coutance, in his work entitled “ Yenins et poisons,” 
8, Paris, 1888, p. 178-179, speaking of a dog bitten to death by 
a fer de lance says : “A cubic centimeter of urine from a dog, 
dead from the bite of a Trigonocephalies, was injected beneath the 
skin of a rat, which died the next morning. The kidneys are 
therefore, as believed by Lauder Brunton and Fayrer, a means by 
which serpent venom is eliminated. Richard Balsamos killed 
pigeons by inoculating them with the urine of dogs which had 
been bitten in India by venomous sea snakes, but it is a question 
if normal urine might not produce the same effect by reason of 
the ptomaines contained therein.” 
As some non-professional readers may care to know what jab- 
orandi is, and what effect is produced by it, the following short 
summary is given : 
Jaborandi is an extract made from dry leaves of Pilocarpus 
-i- 
pennatifolius , a South American plant, its properties being due to 
a volatile oil and two alkaloids, pilocarpine and jaborine. 
Dose : Extract, gr. ii-x. 
Dose : Infusion, f. oz. ss. 
Dose : Pilocarpine nit., gr. J-ss. 
Dose : Tincture of jaborandi, U. S. Ph., f. oz. J-l. 
Dose: Ext. pilocarpi fl., M. 5-60. 
“ Pilocarpine stimulates the peripheral terminations of efferent 
nerves going to glands, and first stimulates and then paralyzes the 
efferent nerves going to structures composed of involuntary mus¬ 
cular fiber. In large doses it lessens, but does not quite destroy 
the irritability of voluntary muscles and motive nerves.”—(Lau¬ 
der Brunton.) It increases flow of saliva enormously, the secre¬ 
tion of sweat and excites the secretion of tears, cerumen in ears, 
mucus from nose and from bronchial mucous membrane, of gas¬ 
tric juice, intestinal juice and urine from the kidneys. Upon the 
circulation: Vessels become dilated at first, pulse rapid, feeling 
I of heat over the body. Blood pressure falls a little at first with 
quicker pulse and rises with a slower pulse. Respiration is in- 
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