08 
THE THANATOPHIDIA OF INDIA. 
very restless and uneasy; strikes at everything that approaches 
the cage. 12.57.—Active as ever. 1.2 p.m. —No change. 
2.30. —No change. 
There was no further change, and on the 13th the snake was 
quite well.* 
The Ply as (“ Dhamin”), or Eat Snake, is very active and 
vigorous. The individual bitten must have been about eight 
feet in length. The Cobra was about half the size. 
Experiment No. 2. 
A Varanus favescens, or “ Colisamp,” about two-thirds grown, 
was bitten at 12.38 p.m. in two places—one on the thorax 
behind the foreleg, and one on the inner side of the hindleg, 
by a powerful, full-grown, and fresh Cobra, about six feet in 
length, of a lightish colour, and distinctly marked with the 
spectacles on his hood. 12.42.—The Lizard lies quiet in the 
cage. 12.46.—Crawling about in the cage ; slightly drags his 
forelegs. 12.55.—Very quiet; looks sluggish; eyes partially 
closed. 1 p.m. —Yery sluggish; was taken out of the cage 
and placed on the floor of the room, where he moves. The 
forelegs are dragged with the palmar surface of the feet turned 
upwards, but when much roused, he is able to use the forelegs. 
2.30. —Appears a little less sluggish ; looks about. 2.45.— 
Eeplaced in the cage; has moved about in the cage, but is 
sluggish. Hardly responds to stimulus when roused. He 
remained for the rest of the day in this state. March 11th, 
noon.—Sluggish, and can hardly be roused. 4 p.m. —He died 
quietly. 
Experiment No. 3. 
The Cobra that bit the Ptyas in Experiment No. 1 of this 
series, was bitten by another fresh Cobra of a much darker 
colour at 12.45. The snake was made to close his jaws in two 
places, and, as in the other experiment, not only could the fangs 
be heard to penetrate the scales, but the marks of the puncture 
were visible, and the poison was left on the surface of the part 
near the punctures. The snake, after being bitten, was returned 
to a cage like that of the Ptyas in the first experiment. 1.2 
p.m. —Lying quiet, apparently unaffected. 1.15.—-No change. 
1.35.—No change. 2.30.—The only change is that the snake 
is on the alert, and keeps his head erect with hood spread. 
No further change occurred after this, and on the following 
day the snake was well. It may be noted that this Cobra was 
partially exfoliating his epidermis at the time when the ex¬ 
periment was made. 
Experiment No. 4. 
A Ptyas mucosus , about six feet in length, was bitten by the 
large Cobra at 12.54. Before closing the snake’s jaws on the 
part the scales were scraped off. Blood was freely drawn by 
the snake’s fangs from bites inflicted in two places. (This was 
the same Cobra that bit the Varanus.) 1.8 p.m. —Appears 
sluggish; wound bleeding freely. 1.16.—Perfectly active, and 
moves about rapidly in the cage. 1.35.—No change. 
There was no apparent change in the snake all that day or 
the next, except that he may have been a little more sluggish. 
He died during the night of the 11th, being found dead on the 
morning of the 12th. 
Experiment No. 5. 
A very large Bull-frog, Pana tigrina, was bitten severely 
on the inner side of the hindleg in two places, at 1.57 p.m. by 
the same large Cobra that bit the Ptyas and Varanus. 2 p.m.— 
Prog walks about; bitten leg rather dragged. 2.5.—Seemed 
anxious to escape, and gave several cries as of pain or fear. 
But there was no further change; the Frog remained quite well 
on the 13tli. 
The blood of the Ptyas and of the Varanus was examined by 
Dr. Colies and myself with a one-eightli inch object-glass and the 
A eye-piece. There was nothing suggestive of any change in 
the corpuscles. 
It is to be remembered that death in both these cases oc¬ 
curred very slowly, allowing abundance of time for any blood 
change to take place. Of course the appearances in reptilian 
might be expected to differ from those in mammalian blood; 
but I doubt if there be anything to indicate such changes as 
Dr. Halford describes in human blood after the Cobra bite. 
However the matter is still sub judice, and requires many 
experiments, and those often repeated, before any decided con¬ 
clusion can be formed. 
It is especially noticeable that the deaths took place very 
slowly, and that the effects of the bite, even of a very powerful 
Cobra, were much more gradually manifested in the cold- than 
in the warm-blooded animals. The Frog escaped altogether, 
hut this may he owing to the Cobra having been somewhat 
exhausted by biting two other animals. I can hardly imagine 
that it was so; for when the snake’s mouth was opened to 
make it bite the Frog, the poison dropped freely from the fangs. 
It is probable that the quality rather than the quantity may 
be affected by the rapid discharge of the fluid, and that the 
exhaustion is caused by the excitement of rage as well as by 
that of fear to which, under the circumstances, the snake is 
naturally exposed. The experiments were carefully conducted, 
and the snakes were handled by the same old man who officiated 
on a former occasion. Dr. Jerdon and Dr. Colles were present 
with me during the experiments. 
THIED SEEIES. 
Experiments on the Action of the Poisons of the Cobra and Bun- 
garus fasciatus on Warm- and Cold-blooded Animals , and on 
the Influence of Carbolic Acid on these Snakes. 
April 22 nd, 1868. 
Experiment No. 1. 
A Fish ( Ophioceplalus marulius), about fourteen inches long, 
was bitten once near the tail by a large fresh Cobra at 12.50, 
and was put into water immediately. 1 p.m. —Fish seems 
sluggish. 1.5 p.m. —Jumped out of the jar of water. 1.8.— 
Fish active; plunging about in the jar. 1.14.—Plunging- 
broke the glass jar. Put into another vessel. 1.16.—Seems 
sluggish; can be taken up by the tail. 1.22.—Turning on his 
side ; plunging ; jumps out of the jar. 1.25.—Exhibits con¬ 
vulsive movements; lying on its side. 1.30.—Nearly dead. 
1.40.—Dead. Another Fish of the same size, not bitten, but 
kept for the same period in a similar jar, is alive. 
Experiment No. 2. 
A Dog was bitten by a full-grown Bungarus fasciatus at 
1.13 in two places on the inner side of the left thigh. 1.16.— 
No paralysis of leg such as is seen in Cobra bite. Dog seems 
uneasy. 1.28.—Dog seems unaffected. 1.36.—Dog lying 
down ; seems sluggish ; nothing very striking in his appear¬ 
ance ; breathing perhaps rather hurried. 1.55.—Sluggish; 
struggles and drags the leg a little. 1.56.—Vomiting a 
quantity of bilious fluid. Snorting; restless. 1.58.—Seems 
very restless ; lies down; is evidently nauseated, and tries to 
vomit. 2 p.m. —Eespiration hurried and irregular, 112 in the 
minute. 2.15 p.m. —Sluggish and nauseated; breathing quick. 
2.30.—Sluggish, but can be roused; makes efforts to vomit; 
breathing slightly oppressed. 4 p.m. —Same state. Dog died 
on the afternoon of the 25th. 
Experiment No 3. 
A young Mongoose ( Ilerpestes malaccensis ) was bitten 
two or three times by a full-grown Cobra, at 1.24 p.m. 
* This snake died on the 17th, without any obvious cause. 
