7G 
THE THANATOPHTDTA OF INDIA. 
On August 12th it was still quite well. At 2.30, when I | 
left, it was as well as ever. 
Experiment No. 14. 
A half-grown Domestic Fowl was bitten in the thigh by a 
Dahoia russettii at 1 p.m. It fell over in violent convulsions as 
it was placed on the ground, and in less than ninety seconds it 
was completely dead. This is the most rapid action of snake- 
poison I have yet seen. 
Experiment No. 15. 
About half a drop of venom was with difficulty obtained 
from the same Daboia. These snakes, with their long mobile 
fangs, do not shed their poison into a shell or spoon covered 
with a leaf so readily as do the Cobras. This very small 
quantity of the venom was injected, by means of the hypo¬ 
dermic syringe, into the thigh of a half-grown Fowl. At 
12.2 p.m., when placed on the ground, it walked a few steps, 
as though nothing had happened. In about eighty seconds it 
suddenly fell backwards, and rolled over in violent convulsions. 
At 12.4 min. 10 sec., that is, in 130 seconds, it was dead. These 
two experiments show the terribly deadly nature of the Daboia s 
poison, and also the difference of its mode of action from that 
of the Cobra. In the one case death is preceded by violent 
convulsions, in the other by paralysis and lethargy."' 
The quantity of the poison inoculated must have been very 
small in both cases ; for the snake did not imbed his fangs or 
shed a very large amount of poison ; and in the second experi¬ 
ment, where the quantity was certainly not more than half a 
drop, part of that must have been absorbed by the padding of 
the piston, and a small part lost by adhering to the syringe, or 
by escape, owing to the piston not being absolutely air-tight. 
It is also worthy of notice that this is the same snake that has 
been used in former experiments, and that it has been in a cage 
now for some weeks. It appears that it and its companion 
have eaten some small frogs lately. 
Experiment No. 16. 
One drop of poison, taken from a Spectacled Cobra, was 
injected at 1.14 p.m., by means of the hypodermic syringe, into 
a Fowl’s thigh. In fifty seconds it was walking about with that 
leg partially paralysed. At 1.16 it was pecking at the punc¬ 
tured part ; wings drooping. At 1.19 it sat down, head hang¬ 
ing, and supporting itself with the point of the beak resting on 
the ground, growing gradually more comatose, and generally 
paralysed. At 1.22 in the same state. One drop of the 
strychnia solution, about ^_th of a grain, was injected into the 
thigh. At 1.23$ it appeared quite paralysed. When thrown 
from the hands to the ground, the wings involuntarily performed 
the movement? of flying, and it alighted gently, but lay there 
perfectly motionless. At 1.25 tetanic twitchings of muscular 
system were apparent. At 1.26 general muscular quivering, and 
slight spasmodic extension of the legs. At 1.27$ dead. The 
contents of the cloaca were evacuated just before death. The 
action of the strychnia was apparent, but it did not in any way 
seem to ameliorate the condition induced by the Cobra poison. 
The Fowl was larger and stronger than those in the preceding 
experiments, and a full drop of poison was injected. Death 
did not occur for 1 3$ minutes, and the symptoms differed from 
those in the birds poisoned by the Daboia , whose more rapid 
death was preceded by violent convulsions. 
Experiment No. 17. 
A large pale-coloured Cobra had ten or twelve drops of 
freshly extracted Cobra poison injected into the anterior ventral 
* This is not always the case. The Cobra bite also frequently causes convulsions 
in Fowls. 
aspect of the body, about eight inches from the head, at 1.43 p.m. 
At 2.30 the snake seemed unaffected. On August 12tli, at 5 p.m., 
the snake remained perfectly well. 
Experiment No. 18. 
A large pale-coloured Cobra had ten drops, equal to $th of a 
grain, of a solution of strychnia injected into the anterior part 
of its body, near the head, at 1.50 p.m. At 1.52 tetanic 
twitchings commenced. At 1.53 it became rigidly fixed in 
undulating curves, with a general lateral curve of its entire 
length. The hood completely shrivelled up, and the head 
twisted to one side. In this spastic condition the snake was 
as rigid as a bar of wood. In 7$ minutes after the strychnia 
had been injected the Cobra was quite dead; muscular twitch¬ 
ings had passed away just before death; rigidity remained for 
a short time after it. 
The snake, notwithstanding its cold blood, is very susceptible 
to the poisonous effects of strychnia. The object of the experi¬ 
ment was not only to test the action of strychnia on the snake, 
but also to show that the method of injecting the poison was 
an effective one, and that as the snake-poison was injected in 
precisely the same way, failure in its action could not be attri¬ 
buted to the mode of administration. 
Experiment No. 19. 
At 2.6 p.m. a full-grown Cobra had six drops of fresh Cobra 
poison injected under the skin with the hypodermic syringe, 
about eight inches from the head. Seven minutes after voided 
a quantity of dark-coloured fluid from the cloaca. 2.30. —Un¬ 
affected. 
On the 12tli August, at 5 p.m., still quite well. 
In these three experiments, 13, 17, 19, the Cobra poison, 
though fresh and thoroughly well injected into the Cobra, had 
no effect. Four days after the experiment, the snakes injected 
were unaffected. 
Experiment No. 20. 
Ten drops of carbolic acid were injected, at 2.9 p.m., by 
means of the hypodermic syringe, into a Cobra, at about eight 
or ten inches from the head. 
In half a minute it was affected with muscular twitchings 
and tremor; the anterior twelve inches of the snake affected 
with paralysis agitans. Vermicular movements throughout 
the body. 2.12.—Universal paralysis. 2.14.—Dead. 
The snake is evidently very susceptible to this poison, as it 
also is to the strychnia. No warm-blooded animal could be 
more so. This, I think, seems to show that, apart from any 
immunity peculiar to the reptilian circulation, it has a special 
toleration of the poison of its own species ; for it certainly is 
not easily, if at all affected by it, as the majority of the ex¬ 
periments hitherto performed tend to show that neither by 
inoculation of the poison by the syringe, nor by biting, is any 
deadly effect produced. 
SEVENTH SERIES. 
'Experiments on the Injluence of the Poisons of the Cobra and 
Daboia. 
August 15 th, 1868. 
Present, Dr. Fayrer, Dr. Ewart, Professor of Physiology, 
and Mr. Sceva, of the Indian Museum. 
The object of these experiments was to make careful obser¬ 
vations of the symptoms during the action of the poison, 
to note the pathological changes during life and after 
death, and the microscopical appearances of the blood 
of a Mammal in the healthy state, immediately before sub¬ 
mitting it to the influence of the snake-poison, and to 
