On the nature and physiological action of the poison of Naja tripudians and other Indian venomous snakes / by T. Lauder Brunton and J. Fayrer.

  • Brunton, T. Lauder (Thomas Lauder), 1844-1916.
Date:
1873
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the nature and physiological action of the poison of Naja tripudians and other Indian venomous snakes / by T. Lauder Brunton and J. Fayrer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    2.26. The animal looks scared and is twitching. This guineapig is very active. 2.30. Another dose injected. The animal is twitching much. It jumped out of the deep box in which it had been placed for observation. Breathing is hurried. 2.36. It seems better. Another dose injected into the thigh. 2.45. Not much effect. Another dose injected. 2.46. Twitching continues; animal remains active. It recovered. Means of preventing the Effects of the Poison. There are three ways in which the toxic effects of a poison may be entirely prevented or greatly diminished. These are :—1st, by preventing its admission into the blood; 2nd, by counteracting the effects it produces while it is circulating in the body and sustaining life by artificial respiration; 3rd, by quickening its elimination. The first of these methods is the only one which has hitherto been of any great service in cases of poisoning by the bite of cobras. Various attempts have been made to counteract the effects of cobra-poison by means of antidotes ; but the advantage derived from their use is still, to say the least, doubtful. No special attempts, so far as we know, have been made to hasten the elimination of the poison, or at least none have beeu made avowedly for this purpose, though it is possible that some of the antidotes may have had that effect. This part of the subject we will treat in a future paper. The subject of prevention of entry of the virus by ligature or other mechanical measures has been fully discussed in the ' Thanatophidia'; it is unnecessary to recur to it here, for the present at all events. For the purpose of attempting to counteract the effects of the cobra- poison while it is circulating in the blood, it is necessary to have some idea of its mode of action. Mode of Action of the Poison. Snake-poison probably produces its fatal or deleterious effects either by completely paralyzing the nerve-centres or other portion of the nervous apparatus, and thus causing arrest of respiration, or by partially paralyzing them and also poisoning the blood, thereby inducing patho- logical conditions of a secondary nature, which may, according to circum- stances, cause the slightest or the most dangerous symptoms. The effect produced depends on two sets of conditions:—first, the species of the snake, its actual state at the time, the quantity and quality of its poison, and the circumstances under which it inflicts the bite ; second, the species, size, and vigour of the living creature, and the circumstances under which it is bitten. Snake-poison is essentially a neurotic, and, when it takes fidl effect,