EXPERIMENTS ON THE INFLUENCE OF SNAKE-POISON. 
129 
vigorous Cobra (“Kala Kurrees”) just brought from the jungle. 
12.5S. The part was well incised and the liver of the Fowl 
rubbed in. 1.5. — A pill mixed with warm water was adminis¬ 
tered. 1.31.—Appears well. 2.12.—Appears well and is 
feeding. 3.5.—Half a pill administered. 3.45.—Is running 
about. 4.30. Appears very slightly sluggish ; administered 
the other half of the pill. 5.30.—The animal is feeding and 
appears very well, only that the tail occasionally droops 
slightly. Urine is passed pretty frequently ; this was the case 
also with the Ox. 6.—Appears very well. 6.10.—Same 
state. It ultimately recovered. 
Experiment No. 33. 
The Cobra used in the foregoing experiment was made to 
bite a Fowl in the thigh at 1.10.20 p.m. 1.11.20._Admi¬ 
nistered half a pill mixed with warm water ; incised the bitten 
part and applied a portion of the other half of the pill. 1.13._ 
Beak resting on the ground and head falling on one side. 
1.14.40. —Convulsed. 1.17.—Dead—in six minutes and forty 
seconds. Blood coagulated immediately when taken from the 
body. 
Experiment No. 34. 
A Fowl was bitten in the thigh by a large Krait that had 
been in my possession for some time, at 1.24-30 p.m. 1.25.1 5._ 
Half a pill was rubbed into the part bitten after it was incised. 
1.25.40. Half a pill administered. 1.34.30.—Drooping. 
1.34.45.—Another half of a pill administered. 1.43.—Head 
drooping. 1.46.—Head lying on the ground ; beak quivering. 
2.7.—Dead—in forty-three minutes and a half. 
Experiment No. 35. 
The Krait used in Experiment No. 34 was made to bite a 
Fowl in the thigh at 1.30.15 p.m. The Fowl was immediately 
lame. 1.33.—Squatting down. 1.35.30.—Head drooping. 
1.40. —Convulsions commenced. 1.50.—Dead — in twenty 
minutes and a quarter. 
October 5 th, 1870. 
Experiment No. 36. 
A weak country Goat was bitten in the thigh, which had 
been previously shaved, by a large Krait that had been in my 
possession for some time, at 1.5 p.m. The snake held on for 
some time, and was with difficulty taken away. 1.12.—Liver 
rubbed into the part after incision. 1.17.—A Tanjore pill was 
administered. 1.20.—Tremor of the hinds quarters. 1.42.— 
Staggers. 1.43.—Strongly convulsed. 1.46.—Eyes turned 
upwards; abdomen tympanitic. 1.51.—Dead—in forty-six 
minutes. 
On opening the body I found the blood coagulated, and the 
stomach highly congested, in patches, as if from poisoning by 
arsenic. 
A Fowl bitten by the above Krait died in twenty-two 
minutes. 
Experiment No. 37. 
A small Pig was bitten by a Cobra at 3.25; at 6.50 p.m. it 
was very well. A Fowl died in fifty-nine minutes after being 
bitten by the same Cobra. The Pig was bitten most severely. 
The Pig died at 8 p.m. 
Experiment No. 38. 
A small Pig was bitten by a Cobra at 3.25 p.m. 3.27.30.— 
Half a pill administered. 3.31.—The bitten part well incised, 
and a liver (Fowl’s) applied. 3.42.—Seems quite well. 
3.47.—Seems very slightly sluggish. 3.52.—Is lying down. 
4.—Apparently better, and is running about. 4.27.—- 
Sluggish again; a quarter of a pill administered. 4.40.—Has 
rigors. 5.—Another quarter of a pill. 7.50.—Salivation. 8.— 
Dead — in four hours and thirty-five minutes. 
October 7 th. 
Experiment No. 39. 
A small country Goat was bitten by a Gokurrah Kurrees at 
11.34 a.m. 11.39.— Part incised and liver applied. 11.40. _ 
Pill administered. 1.49.—Is slightly drowsy. 1.58._Half a 
pill administered. 3.—Convulsed. 4.15. —Dead—in four hours 
and forty-one minutes. 
A Fowl bitten by the same Cobra after it had bitten the 
Goat did not die until three hours and twenty-four minutes had 
elapsed, although no antidote was administered. 
An Ox that had been bitten by a Cobra, and to which the 
antidote was administered, lived some hours ; but it looked 
very unwell, and showed some symptoms of poisoning by 
arsenic. The Ox died in seven hours and forty-two minutes. 
I am also indebted to Mr. Richards, of Bancoorah, for the 
following Experiments on the injection of snake-poison diluted, 
with water into the blood-vessels :— 
September 1st, 1871. 
Experiment No. 40. 
The venom of two Cobras was mixed with twenty drops of 
water. 
I isolated the right femoral vein of a Dog, and applied a 
ligature on the cardiac side. Ten drops of the above mixture 
were then injected into the vein, and the ligature soon after 
loosened. 3.54 p.m.— The Dog immediately began to struggle 
and whine. 3.55. — Lying down and panting. 3.57. — Appears 
much exhausted; natural defecation. 4.L—Twitching of the 
corners of the mouth ; breathing rapidly with very forcible 
expirations ; is evidently affected by the poison. It is now 
seven minutes since it began to circulate. 4.2.—Beginning to 
be very restless ; defecation. 4.4. — Passed jelly-like stools ; 
pupils contracted. 4.5. — Staggering about and holding the 
head down; constantly shaking the head; salivation. 4.7.— 
Occasional slight convulsions ; micturition. 4.8.—Gasping ; 
pupils rapidly dilating. 4.10. — Dead — in sixteen minutes. 
The blood removed from the heart did not coagulate, and had 
exactly the appearance of that of persons who die from snake¬ 
bite. This is the first instance in which I have found the 
blood fluid in the lower animals after death from snake-bite of 
colubrine snakes. 
September 2nd, 1871. 
Experiment No. 41. 
I isolated the left femoral artery of a Dog, and applied a 
ligature on the distal side. The remaining ten drops of the 
above mixture were then very carefully injected into the 
artery. At 10.46 a.m. the ligature was loosened and the 
poison allowed to circulate, when the Dog began to whine 
and micturate. 10.48. — When let loose he fell over. 
10.50.—Has been constantly passing water. 10.54. — Is lying 
perfectly quiet on his left side. 10.55. — Defecation difficult, 
with a great deal of straining. 10.56,—Constant dribbling 
of urine. 10.58. — Pupils contracted. 11.—Whining ; is 
perfectly sensible. 11.1. — -Tried to get up. 11.3.—Got up 
and limped off; is incessantly passing water. 11.7. — Licking 
his wounded leg. 11.10.—Does not seem very much affected; 
is snapping at the flies as they come near him; stood up and 
limped off. 10.12. — Is standing up; passed an astonishingly 
large quantity of urine. 11.13.—Fell over ; is licking himself. 
11.15. — Very much exhausted ; tries to get up, but is unable. 
11.18. — Breathing rapidly ; very forcible expirations. 11.23.— 
Passing water in small quantities at the time. 11.25.—- 
Convulsive twitchings at the corners of the mouth; struggles 
to get up, but is unable ; is now evidently very much affected; 
thirty-nine minutes since the poison was allowed to circulate. 
11.27.—Twitchings at the corners of the mouth increasing. 
L b 
