EXPERIMENTS ON THE INFLUENCE OF SNAKE-POISON. 
137 
Experiment No. 11. 
A quarter of a drop of poison was taken from one of the Delhi 
Cobras, and was mixed with five drops of water, and then in¬ 
jected with the hypodermic syringe into a Fowl’s thigh at 
1.4 p.m. The Fowl was about two-thirds grown, like the one 
in Experiment 10. 1.5.—Feathers staring; limps on injected 
leg. 1.6.—Crouches ; rises ; walks, but is very lame. 1.10.— 
Still runs about, but is lame. 1.11.—Crouching; head droop¬ 
ing; has fallen over, resting on the point of the beak. 1.12.— 
Convulsed. It remained in this condition quite unconscious 
and occasionally convulsed until 1.34, when it died—in thirty 
minutes. Blood removed after death had not coagulated at 
1.55. It coagulated after this, but did not form a firm clot. 
The results of this are remarkable when compared with the 
other (No. 10). An equal quantity of Echis poison equally 
diluted killed in ten minutes; that of the Cobra killed in 
thirty. It shows that the Echis poison is very active, but it 
does not prove that it is more active than that of the Cobra, 
for it may have entered a vein and been more rapidly absorbed. 
But it does prove what different results may be given, although 
the circumstances appear the same for each. It also shows how 
frequently experiments must be repeated before reliable generali¬ 
zation can be made. 
Experiment No. 12. 
At 1.10 p.m. a Dog was bitten on the nose by an Echis; 
blood was drawn ; the Dog seemed either not to feel or not to 
care for the bite. 1.14.—No symptoms ; the Dog seems well. 
1.15.—Nose and upper lip beginning to swell. 1.20.—Very 
much swollen. 1.25.—Frothy discharge from nostrils, but the 
Dog seems well, perhaps a little sluggish ; he lies quiet. 
9th, 8 a.m.— He seems well in health, and the swelling of 
the nose and upper lip has abated considerably. 
10th.—The Dog has recovered ; the swelling has disappeared. 
Experiment No. 13. 
At 1.27 p.m. four drops of fresh Cobra poison from a 
“Keautiah” were diluted with a teaspoonful of water and put 
into a Fowl’s mouth. It swallowed it at once, and then 
another spoonful of water was given, which was also freely 
swallowed. 1.30.-—It is evidently affected; it looks dazed; 
walks about with its back arched; head down and feathers 
staring. 1.36.—Drooping; feathers raised; seems very weak 
and stupid; does not try to escape when taken in the hand; 
stands with its head raised and its eyes staring, 1.50.—Is 
lethargic ; walks with difficulty; crouching; a watery fluid is 
coming in large quantity from its mouth ; it is evidently very 
sick ; cannot stand when placed on its legs. 1.55.-—Crouching; 
head nodding forward as usual; point of beak on the ground. 
2.30 p.m. —Profuse flow of watery fluid from mouth. 2.50.— 
Head fallen forward; neck twisted to one side. 2.55.—Con¬ 
vulsed. 2.58.—Quite paralysed. 3.10.—Dead—in one hour 
and forty-three minutes. Blood coagulated firmly after death. 
This experiment confirms the poisonous action of the venom 
when swallowed. 
Experiment No. 14. 
A small Krait, about twenty inches long, bitten by a large 
one, forty-two inches long, at 1.45 p.m. Blood drawn. 2 p.m. — 
No effect. 
9th, 8 a.m. —Not in the least affected. 
10th.—Still quite well. 
The evidence of this experiment is that the Krait cannot 
poison the Krait. 
I may remind the reader that the Echis carinata is a very 
active and fierce little viper, very aggressive, minacious, and 
irascible. He is naturally sluggish until roused, when he im¬ 
mediately places himself in a posture of offence and defence. 
I received a batch of seven sent to me from Delhi; all very 
fine specimens, beautifully marked, and in good condition, the 
largest nearly twenty-four inches in length, and nearly three 
inches in girth. They laid all knotted and coiled together in a 
corner of the cage, so close that it was impossible to distinguish 
one from the other, a head peeping out here and there. When 
disturbed they immediately separated and coiled themselves up 
in a series of convolutions with the head erect, the mouth open, 
the eye looking particularly vicious, and with a loud hissing sound 
they prepared to strike, and frequently they darted the whole 
body forward a foot or more in the attempt to strike. The head 
was always erect and the whole aspect and attitude was that of 
intense malice and mischief. 
The peculiar sound they make, especially when there are 
several together, is very remarkable; it is caused b}^ the friction 
of their roughly carinated obliquely set outer rows of scales as 
they move one fold of the convoluted body rapidly against the 
other. This they do without changing place, and it is very 
beautiful to watch this constant motion, which is something 1 
like the vermicular movement of an intestinal tube as the peri¬ 
staltic wave passes rapidly along. My attention was called 
to it by my snake-man in a very fine specimen that I had sent 
to the School of Art to be figured, which was confined in a large 
box with a wire gauze front. 
That it might be better seen, and that the origin of this 
peculiar sound in the friction of the carinated scales against 
each other might be the better demonstrated, he took it out of 
the box, lifting it on a stick, and put it on the ground; intending 
to remove it to a little distance, he pressed its neck with the 
rod, and seized it by the neck in the usual way with the finger 
and thumb; as he did so I saw the viper suddenly twist its 
neck, the man dropped it and said he was bitten. The Echis 
had managed to twist its head round, not being held sufficiently 
near the jaws, and struck one of its needle-like fangs under the 
man’s thumb nail, though not very deeply, yet it brought 
blood. The man seemed alarmed, but behaved well. I im¬ 
mediately, as I saw him drop the viper, seized liis hand and com¬ 
pressed the thumb as hard as I could; a piece of string was 
handed to me, and I tied it round the thumb just above the 
nail with all the force I could exert, causing considerable pain. 
I then took out my penknife and cut away the nail and that 
portion of the soft parts where the fang had penetrated. I 
next got a piece of live charcoal and cauterized the part; under 
the pressure of the ligature blood was flowing freely. Some 
nitric acid was brought, and I immediately applied it freely 
over the cut surface. He complained of pain up the arm, 
but this was due to the treatment, and he became rather faint, 
no doubt from apprehension and pain, though he showed no 
signs of fear. After a few minutes I slackened the ligature 
above the part, and as I happened to have a bottle of carbonate 
of ammonia (smelling salts), I took out about fifteen grains, 
dissolved it in water, and gave it him to drink. I then took 
him in my carriage to the hospital, where I was going to 
lecture at 2 p.m., and left him in the hospital, with instructions 
that he should be watched and stimulants given frequently. 
On coming out from my lecture at 3 p.m., I found him 
waiting for me. He said he felt perfectly well, only some pain 
from the severe treatment of the thumb ; he then went home. 
I saw him next day at noon; he was quite well: the thumb 
was slightly painful from the wound, but there were no signs 
of poisoning. 
Here was an undoubted bite from a poisonous snake, blood 
was drawn by the fang penetrating between the nail and the 
flesh. The treatment was prompt, active, and rational, and no 
bad symptoms followed; and yet I believe that had nothing 
at all been done for him it is probable that no evil would have 
followed. Of course I could not act on this impression, and I 
treated him as I believe those should be treated who are bitten 
by poisonous snakes. But in this case the thing was done so 
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