EXPERIMENTS ON THE INFLUENCE OF SNAKE-POISON. 
105 
THIRTY-FIFTH SERIES. 
Experiments with the Poison of Daboia russellii, and of 
Naja tripudians. 
Present, Hr. Fayrer and Hr. Lauder Brunton. 
St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. —February 10th, 1873. 
Experiment No. 1. 
A Guinea-pig, full grown, had some Daboia poison recently 
received from Balasore from Mr. Richards injected into 
the thigh. The limb soon became weak and was dragged; 
symptoms of poisoning also generally appeared; twitching; 
restlessness; another dose was injected into the other thigh, 
and in a few minutes the animal became perfectly paralysed in 
the loins and hinder limbs; the paralysis gradually crept along 
to the fore-limbs and body generally ; it lay perfectly powerless, 
the last voluntary movements being feeble efforts to drag itself 
forward on the fore-legs ; a few final convulsive movements 
terminated life. The heart continued to beat for some time 
after all reflex or other indication of life had ceased. On 
opening the body and letting out the blood from the great 
cardiac vessels, it rapidly formed a firm clot; very dark when 
abstracted, it became by exposure to the air rapidly florid. 
This is a totally different result from that obtained in Calcutta, 
where an animal was bitten by the Daboia, for the blood re¬ 
mained fluid after death. The quantity used in this experiment 
was about 10 drops of the alcoholic solution of the poison as sent 
by Mr. Richards. According to his mark on the bottle the spirit 
was about 10 to 1. It had not decomposed, but had become milky 
white, and partially coagulated and no doubt diminished in 
activity. The Guinea-pig lived for about 25 or 30 minutes 
after inoculation. 
Experiment No. 2. 
A small Guinea-pig had about the same quantity of Daboia 
poison injected into the thigh It soon manifested the same 
symptoms as the former one, and died quietly without con¬ 
vulsions, paralysis seeming to creep slowly up from the injured 
part until the entire muscular system became involved. The 
symptoms after death were similar to those in the first case, 
and the blood reddened and coagulated firmly after removal 
from the body. On irritating the nerve of the lower extremity 
contraction of the muscles followed; on introducing the 
electrodes into the spinal cord, no contraction followed in the 
limbs. So far the indication is that the action of the poison 
was mainly on the centres. 
Experiment No. 3. 
A full-grown Guinea-pig had some diluted and decomposed, 
Cobra poison injected into the thigh. The poison was some of 
that recently sent from Balasore, and from decomposition had 
evidently (as shown in former experiments) lost much of its 
activity. However, in about twenty minutes the Guinea-pig 
died with the usual symptoms of Cobra poisoning. The 
paralysis of the muscles was not expressed in exactly the same 
way as in those poisoned by the Daboia virus. It did not 
gradually invade the whole muscular system by spreading from 
the lower extremities, but all seemed to suffer at the same time, 
though gradually. Convulsions were well marked in this in¬ 
stance, whilst scarcely at all in the two Daboia poisoned animals. 
The blood coagulated firmty after death. 
Memorandum on the Effects of Snake-poison on the Human Subject. 
On referring to 95 cases of snake-bite in India, of which 20 
were not fatal, described by medical officers and others. I find 
that one or other of the following symptoms or conditions is 
described as having occurred during life or after death. 
Local .— Pain in the bitten part.— Tingling of the bitten part. 
—Burning sensation in the bitten part and up the limb. —Numb¬ 
ness in the bitten part and up the limb.—Loss of feeling in the 
bitten part and up the limb. — (Edema in the bitten part and up 
the limb. — Swelling in the bitten part and up the limb.—Bis- 
colorations — blue-black in the bitten part and up the limb. — 
Sloughing of the part bitten. — Erysipelatous inflammation of 
limb or part. — Haemorrhage from the punctures. 
General — Constitutional. — Browsiness.— Thirst. — Restless¬ 
ness. — Uneasiness.—Rapidly or suddenly becoming uncon¬ 
scious — Foaming at the mouth. — Stertor.—Coma.—Insensi¬ 
bility. — Nausea. — Vomiting.—Vomiting of black fluid (of 
blood). — Face and body swelled. — Feverish. — Tossing 
of limbs. — Rolling of Head.—Hurried respiration. — Cold 
clammy sweats. —Saliva running from mouth. — Pupils con¬ 
tracted.—Pupils dilated.—Insensible to light. — Heart’s action 
weak, fluttering, intermittent. — Twitching of diaphragm.— 
Pulse feeble, haemorrhagic, lost.—Anxiety.—Hespondency. — 
Pligh spirits.—Feeling of a glow over the body.—Bifficulty of 
articulation. — Loss of articulation.—Rigidity.—Stiffness.—Con¬ 
vulsions.—Coma.—Spasms.—Subsultus tendinum.—Facial pa¬ 
ralysis.—Haemoptysis.—Haematemesis.—Haematuria.— Haemor¬ 
rhage from eyes, nose, mucous membrane of passages, from 
under thumb and great toe-nails. — Loss of voice.—Staring.— 
Throbbing headache.—Delirium.—Peculiar odour in excreta.— 
Dimness of vision.—Vertigo.'—Loss of vision.—Oppression of 
epigastrium.-—Choleraic husky voice. — Dryness of throat.— 
Feeling of swelling of tongue.—Coldness.—Froth on lips. 
From what may be gathered from many recorded cases of 
snake-bite in the human subject, and from the evidence furnished 
by my experiments on the lower animals in India, and by the 
investigations conducted on the lower animals by Dr. L. 
Brunton and myself since my return to England with Cobra virus 
the details of which I have already recorded, there can be little 
doubt that in most, if not all, cases of Cobra poisoning—in 
the human subject, at least—in addition to the motor centres 
and other portions of the nervous system, the cerebrum is 
also affected; for in all, more or less, loss of consciousness 
resulted before the action of the poison could have induced 
this condition indirectly through the venosity of the blood, 
the result of impaired respiration. This has not been so 
obviously the case in the lower animals, for in some instances 
consciousness and intelligence seemed to remain until 
immediately before death, and when it did disappear, was 
probably lost from coma due to the circulation of imperfectly 
aerated blood, to which probably the convulsions that precede 
death are also due. It seems fair, therefore, to conclude that 
the action of the poison extends to the cerebro-spinal nervous 
system generally, one or other part of which is affected accord¬ 
ing to various conditions, not absolutely determined, but 
probably having reference to the quantity or quality of poison, 
the seat of its inoculation, and the state of the animal inoculated. 
That it affects consciousness, the voluntary powers, and the 
motor centres, is indicated by the symptoms manifested in so 
many human beings who have been bitten, and that the 
medulla and spinal cord are also implicated is manifested in 
experiments Dr. Brunton and myself have performed* on 
animals whose cerebral lobes had been removed previous to 
inoculation, and by comparisons we have instituted after death 
with animals similarly treated, in which the poison had not 
been inoculated ; and that the nerve trunks, the peripheral 
distribution, and even the muscular fibre itself, are more or less, 
* These experiments will appear in a forthcoming paper which will shortly be 
presented to the Royal Society. 
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