EXPERIMENTS ON THE INFLUENCE OF SNAKE-POISON. 
77 
compare these appearances with those of the blood of the same 
animal after deatli from the snake-poison. 
The examination was made with the greatest care by 
Professor Ewart and myself with two microscopes, the power 
used being l ~i of an inch, and they were repeated many times. 
Experiment No. 1. 
At 11.59 a.m. a small Pariah Dog was bitten in the left 
hind-leg, just above the carpal joint, by a Daboia, the same 
snake that had been used in former experiments. The Dos' 
was put near the snake, which, though excited and hissing 
loudly, appeared disinclined to bite: on being irritated, it 
struck the Dog in the leg as described; the wound bled 
freely. 
It was nearly five minutes before the Dog showed signs of 
the effects of the poison. He then began to stagger and 
seemed weak, and as if unable to co-ordinate the muscular 
movements of the limbs. 
At 12.6 he lay down, breathing heavily; at 12.7 he rose 
and staggered a few steps and vomited. 12.9.—Gradually 
subsided on to his left hind-quarter ; looks vacantly about him, 
but intelligent when spoken to. There is no indication of any 
suffering. 12.11.—Walks about when led, but very sluggish, 
and wants to lie down; weak in the bitten leg. 12.18.— 
Is walking slowly, staggering in the hind-quarters ; has his 
head depressed, with the neck stretched out. Cold water 
dashed over the head seemed to rouse him partially. 12.22.— 
Lies down; weak and exhausted; no convulsions. Looks as 
though he were going to sleep. Takes no notice when spoken 
to. 12.42.—Lying down, sluggish, and disinclined to move; 
can walk a little when roused. 12.46.—Respiration deep. 
Lying on the right side; appears generally paralysed. 
12.57.—Insensible; catching respiration. 1.5 p.m. —Dead. 
Died in sixty-six minutes. 
Autopsy, soon after death:—Part above the ankle joint, 
where the animal was bitten, ecchymosed to an extent of two 
inches, and discoloured by dark bloody fluid. Decomposition 
commencing. A coagulum corresponded to the points at 
which the fang penetrated. Blood in femoral vein fluid. 
Lungs pale and bloodless; completely collapsed when the 
thorax was opened. Heart’s right cavities contained fluid 
blood. The blood pressed out of the heart and from the 
great vessels in the thorax was fluid, with no tendency 
to coagulate. The left side of the heart empty. The liver 
healthy. Spleen enlarged. Stomach contained a quantity 
of food. Kidneys healthy. Brain taken out and carefully 
examined; it was healthy looking and firm, perhaps more 
anaemic than quite natural. The blood was kept until next 
day, and there was no coagulation. Up to 1.54 p.m. no rigor 
mortis. 
The blood was most carefully examined before the Dog was 
bitten, during the operation of the poison, and after death. 
There was nothing suggestive of the changes described by 
Professor Halford. The red corpuscles remained altogether 
unaltered. In one of the examinations after death, a few more 
of the white corpuscles were seen than we had observed in 
other specimens, but there was no peculiarity about them ; and 
after most careful and repeated examinations, we could detect 
nothing that confirmed Dr. Halford’s observation. 
Experiment No. 2. 
A healthy medium-sized Dog was bitten, at 12.40, in the 
left liind-leg by the Daboia russellii. It was not certain that 
the fangs penetrated. The mouth of the snake was also brought 
in contact with the right thigh and the lower part of the 
abdomen, and the fangs were struck lightly into the parts. 
The snake was one that had been used on former occasions, 
and was weak, and probably almost exhausted of poison. 
1.20 p.m.— Lies down; looks depressed; evidently affected 
by the poison. 2.3 p.m.— There has been very little change 
during the last forty minutes. Lies down quietly. There are 
abdominal contractions, as of irregular action of the diaphragm. 
5 p.m. —When roused moves about, but is sluggish and weak. 
Steps irregularly with a staggering gait, crossing the hind-legs, 
at other times keeping them wide apart. After walking a 
little, the steps became more regular and steady. The Dog 
having usually been fed at this time, food was offered, but he 
refused it. 6.30.—Quiet; no symptoms of pain or convulsions; 
perfectly conscious; when spoken to responds readily by 
raising his head and wagging his tail. Is insensible to pain if 
irritated in any part of the body. In some of the former ex¬ 
periments it seemed as though anaesthesia were produced in 
the limb that had been bitten. The Dog gradually drooped, 
without any sign of pain ; no spasm. Bitten at 12.4 p.m. Died 
at 8.15—-eight hours and eleven minutes after being bitten. 
In this case death was very slow and painless. It seemed 
more like a gentle lethargy stealing over the animal, and 
gradually increasing until death. There was no sign of pain; 
no convulsions ; just before death the defecation was of a muco- 
sanguinolent character, having been perfectly natural before 
being bitten. The body was examined soon after death. On 
raising the integument, it was found that the deepest wounds 
from the snake’s fangs had been received in the middle of the 
lower part of the abdomen, but they had not penetrated deeper 
than the adipose tissue. Several small punctures (four or five) 
were found in the side of the abdomen and in the inner part of 
the thigh. 
The post-mortem appearances of the thoracic and abdominal 
cavities were exactly the same as in the former case, except 
that the spleen was healthy in this case. 
The blood was watched for fourteen hours, and it did not 
coagulate; and, being carefully examined under the microscope, 
presented no change from the normal condition. 
The results of these experiments, which were conducted with 
great care and every precaution to exclude sources of error, 
may, I think, be accepted as almost conclusive that death is 
caused by the action of the poison on the nerve centres generally, 
and not by its operation on any special one. The condition of 
the thoracic viscera proved that it was not due to pulmonary 
congestion or asphyxia. The fluid state of the blood, although 
no change in its corpuscular elements was appreciable, tended to 
show that it is the direct channel through which the nerve 
centres are injured. In both these cases death took place 
slowly, giving ample time for any changes, such as described 
by Dr. Halford, to take place. It is worthy of notice that in 
both cases there was absence of any convulsions or tetanic 
spasms. This may be attributed to the animals having re¬ 
ceived a smaller dose of the poison, and that administered by 
comparatively exhausted snakes. In other cases, when the 
animal bitten was smaller, and the Daboias were more vigorous, 
the effect in producing convulsions was marked, and death took 
place more rapidly. Where the poison operates slowly and 
feebly, as in these cases, there is very little, if any, difference 
in the symptoms from those produced by the Cobra poison 
administered under the same conditions. 
August \7th, 1868. 
Experiment No. 3. 
A half-grown Pig was placed in a large box with a full- 
grown Cobra, of the variety called by the natives “ Keautiah.” 
The snake had been used before, had been some time in con¬ 
finement, had probably not eaten for some time, and conse¬ 
quently might be expected to be weak and comparatively 
feebly poisonous. The snake seemed indisposed to bite until 
irritated, and the Pig stepped on him, when he seized it by the 
right fore-foot, just above the hoof, and drew blood. The Pig 
x 
