Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
August,  1897.  J 
Heloderma  Suspectum,  Cope. 
391 
for  the  study  of  nature,  and  thereby  drew  the  members  into  sym- 
pathy with  him  and  his  busy  life.  His  funeral  was  from  his  resi- 
dence in  Merchantville,  N.  J.,  and  was  largely  attended  by  his 
students  and  college  associates.  The  burial  was  in  the  beautiful 
and  historic  cemetery  of  Colestown,  a  few  miles  distant.       H.  T. 
RESEARCHES  IN  REGARD  TO  THE  VENOM  OF  THE 
HELODERMA  SUSPECTUM,  COPE. 
From  the  Physiological  Laboratory  of  the  Caroline  Institute,  Stockholm, 
Sweden. 
By  C.  G.  Santksson,  Professor  of  Pharmacology. 
Having  had  the  opportunity  to  examine  the  saliva  from  three 
lizards  of  the  above-named  species,  Heloderma  suspectum,  Cope, 
which  were  caught  in  Arizona  and  sent  alive  to  the  Zoological  Insti- 
tute at  the  Stockholm  High  School,  and  thinking  that  any  new 
information  in  regard  to  this  wonderful  species  of  animals  might 
possibly  interest  American  readers,  especially  since  the  question  of 
its  poisonous  nature  has  been  enthusiastically  discussed  in  American 
papers,  I  venture  to  submit  for  their  perusal  a  short  account1  of  the 
results  of  my  experiments  in  this  line. 
Before  beginning  to  relate  the  results  of  my  own  experiments, 
I  must,  however,  call  attention  to  several  features  in  the  discussion 
carried  on  in  America,  adding  a  few  remarks  of  my  own. 
The  fact  that  the  anatomical  structure  of  the  heloderms  suggests 
the  probability  of  their  being  to  a  certain  degree  poisonous  has 
been  pointed  out  by  Cope.2  Numerous  experiments  made  on  ani- 
mals  by  Sumichrast,3  Boulenger,4  J.  Fayrer,  in   the  Zoological 
1  My  studies  on  this  subject  have  been  more  completely  published  in  German 
in  a  treatise  with  the  title  :  "  Ueber  das  Gift  von  Heloderma  suspectum  Cope, 
einer  giftigen  Bidechse,"  No.  5  of  the  festival  volumes  of  Nordiskt  Medicinskt 
Arkiv,  dedicated  to  Prof.  Axel  Key,  March,  1897. 
2  Cope  :  Proceedings  of  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences  of  Philadelphia, 
1867,  p.  5  ;  see  also  a  postscript  to  an  article  by  Shufeldt,  The  American  Natu- 
ralist, Vol.  16  (1882),  p.  907. 
3  Cfr.  letter  to  Bocourt :  Comp.  rend,  de  Vacad.  des  sciences,  t.  80  (1875),  p. 
676  ;  furthermore,  Sumichrast :  Bulletin  de  la  soc.  zool.  de  France,  Vol.  5 
(1880),  p.  178. 
*  Boulenger  :  Proceedings  of  the  Zoological  Society  of  London,  1882,  p.  631  ; 
gives  an  account  of  Fayrer's  observations. 
