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SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO KNOWLEDGE.
RESEARCHES
UPON THE
YENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE:
WITH AN INVESTIGATION OP TUB ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY
OF THE ORGANS CONCERNED. ^^<7v, 'f' 'I Hf i
S. WEIR MITCHELL, M.D.,
lECTCEEK ON PUySIOLOGY IN TUE PUILADELPHIA MEDICAL ASSOCIATION.
[ACCEPTED FOK PUBLICATION, JULY, I860.]
COMMISSION
TO WHICH THIS MEMOIR HAS BEEN REFERRED.
Feanelin Bache, M. D.,
eobley dunglison, m.d.
Joseph Henky,
Secretary S. T.
COLLINS, PRINTER,
PHILADELPHIA.
PREFACE.
In the following pages are set forth the results of a long and conscientious
experimental study of the venom of the Rattlesnake.
During a large part of two years I have given to this work almost all the leisure
which could be spared from the everyday exactions of my regular professional
duties. »
In its progress, I have been constantly aided and encouraged by many friends,
principally members of the Academy of Natural Sciences, of Philadelphia; more
especially am I in debt to my fellow-members of the Biological Department of the
Academy, to Prof. Wm. A. Hammond, and to Mr. Vaux.
My thanks are due to the Smithsonian Institution, without the aid of which
I should have been unable to procure the serpents which were essential to my
purposes.
The historical references and the Bibliography owe much to the manuscript notes
of Prof. John Le Conte, which were collected with much care and labor, that they
might be used in a research which he at one time contemplated. Becoming aware
of the investigation in which I was engaged, he most liberally placed at my dis-
posal this collection of literary materials.
To Drs. Brinton and Kane I am greatly obliged for intelligent assistance in
numerous experimental investigations, for which their ready surgical skill so well
fitted them, and I am also in debt to Messrs. Cantrell and Picot, for like aid, which,
owing to the nature of the service, was not always free from danger. My thanks
are further due to Drs. La Roche and Stille, to Dr. Fisher, the librarian of the
Academy of Natural Sciences, and to Dr. T. H. Bache, the librarian of the College
of Physicians, whose assistance in consulting its extensive collection of American
journals has been to me of great service.
With the exception of the microscopic delineations, the plates were drawn by
Dr. Packard, from my recent dissections, and owe their chief merit to his accurate
pencil.
The conclusions arrived at in the pages of this Essay, rest alone upon experi-
iv PREFACE.
mental evidence. That in so varied and so difficult a research, it may be found
that I have sometimes been misled, and at others erred in the interpretation of
facts, is no doubt to be anticipated. I began this work, however, without precon-
ceived views, and throughout its prosecution I have endeavored to maintain that
condition of mind which is wanted in experimentation, and that love of truth
which is the parent of rational inferences.'
S. WEIR MITCHELL.
1226 Walnut St., Philadelphia.
■* The reader who desires further information in regard to the therapeutics of the subject, and to
the relative value of the various antidotes still in repute, is referred to a forthcoming paper, by the
author, in the North American Medico-Chirurgical Review, in which the whole subject will be con-
sidered from a purely medical point of view. The author takes this occasion to mention the omission
in the medical portion of the present essay of the composition of Bibrou's antidote. It contains five
drachms of bromine, four grains of iodide of potassium, and two grains of corrosive sublimate.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Preface
List of Figures
CHAPTER I.
OBSERVATIONS ON THE HABITS OF THE CROTALUS WHEN IN CAPTIVITY.
Inactivity of the Crotalus
Habit of fasting
Mode of artificial feeding
Necessity for water
Change of skin
Influence of the supply of water upon this process
Question of the loss of fangs at this period
Supposed power of fascination .
Odor of the Rattlesnake
CHAPTER II.
ANATOMY OP THE VENOM APPARATUS.
Osteology of the parts concerned
Myology of the parts concerned
Position of the venom gland
Weight of the gland as compared with
Capsule of the gland
Its suspensory and other ligaments
Receptacle of the poison
Microscopical anatomy of the gland
Course of the duct
Sphincter of the duct .
Structure of the fang .
Development of the fangs
Succession of fangs
6
1
10
the length and weight of the snake
11
11
11
12
12
13
15
15
16
18
CHAPTER III.
PHYSIOLOGICAL MECHANISM OF THE BITE OF THE CROTALUS.
Attitude of defence . . ' .
Forward motion of the body in striking
Distance at which the snake can strike .
Elevation of the fangs .
20
20
21
21
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Entrance of the fang into the part struck
Mechanism of the parts concerned in the injection of the poison
Withdrawal of the fang ....
Observation as to the employment of one or both fangs
Divergence of the fangs when used in biting
Means employed to restrain the wasteful flow of the venom
Tenacity of life on the part of the Crotalus (note)
Circumstances that sometimes lessen or destroy the danger of the bite
CHAPTER IV.
PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL CHARACTERS OF THE VENOM.
Amount of venom in the ducts ....
Manipulation (note) .....
Capacity of gland as compared to length and weight of snake
Color of the venom of the Piattlesnake
Physical characters of venom
Consistency of venom .....
Taste and smell of venom ....
Reaction of the venom ....
Reaction of the mucoijs membrane of the snake's mouth
Decomposition of the venom ....
Crystals formed during the evaporation of diluted venom
Amorphous deposit from venom
Chemical examination of Crotalus venom
Temperature at which the venom coagulates
Its solubility ......
Effect of chemical reagents on the venom
Its nitrogenous character ....
Observations as to the presence of sulphocyanide of potassium in venom
Qualitative analysis of venom ....
Observations as to the power of venom to convert stai'ch into grape sugar
Is the gland tissue poisonous ....
Analogy of the venom gland to the parotid gland
Effect of various temperatures on the activity of venom
Table of the effect of various temperatures on the activity of venom
Inflnence of certain chemical agents on the activity of venom .
CHAPTER V.
TOXICOLOGY OF THE VENOM OF THE CROTALUS.
Action of venom on plants
Germination of seeds in venom
Action of venom on animal life
Development of animalculse in decomposing venom
Action of venom on frogs
Acute poisoning of frogs
Chronic poisoning of frogs
Action of the dried venom of the Crotalus on frogs
Effect of the venom upon the Crotalus itself
Relative susceptibility of cold and warm-blooded animals
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VI.
TOXICOLOGICAL ACTION OF THE VENOM UPON WARM-BLOODED ANIMALS.
Action of the venom ou birds .......
Table of symptoms and lesions in seven cases of pigeons poisoned by Crotalus venom
Action of venom on rabbits
Table of symptoms in eight rabbits
Table of lesions in the same
Effect of Crotalus venom on dogs
Cases which recovered .
Fatal cases
PAGE
64
67
6T
69
12
CHAPTER VII.
ACTION OP VENOM ON THE TISSUES AND FLUIDS.
The venom harmless when taken into the stomach
Pulmonary absorption of the venom in pigeons with fatal results
The wound .....
Effect of the venom on the muscles
Effect of the venom on the rigor mortis
Ultimate effect of venom on muscles
Effect of venom on the heart
Effect of venom on the constant arterial pressure
Action of venom on the capillary system
Action of venom on the intestinal movements .
Action of venom on the ciliary movement
Action of the venom on the nervous system
Direct effect of venom oh nerve trunks
Action of the venom on the sensory and motor nerves and upon the nerve centr
Effect of the venom upon the calorifacient function
Effect of venom on the blood .
Effect of venom on the blood in acute poisoning
Effect of venom on the blood in chronic poisoning
Table of blood changes
Loss of fibrin in chronic poisoning
Influence on the blood-corpuscles
The rate at which the fibrin disappears from the blood
Conclusions .....
Altered relation between the blood and tissues .
Cause of death ....
Conclusions . . . ....
Analogy between the symptoms of Crotalus poisoning and those of certain diseases
T6
11
11
18
79
79
80
83
86
86
86
87
90
90
91
92
94
94
96
96
97
CHAPTER VIIL
CEOTALUS POISONING IN MAN,
Table of Crotalus poisoning in man
Sex of those bitten
Situation of the wound
100
102
102
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Local symptoms ....
Local results .....
Constitutional symptoms
Fatal cases, mode of death
Duration of cases ....
Rapidity of recovery in the favorable cases
Lesions in fatal cases ....
Antidotes .....
^ General remarks on antidotes .
Local therapeutics ^ .
Internal treatment
Examination of supposed constitutional antidotes
Ammonia .....
Olive oil .....
Arsenic .....
Bibron's antidote ....
Alcoholic stimulus . . . .
Conclusion . . . ;
An enumeration op the genera and species of Rattlesnakes, with synonymy and reeer-
ENCES. By E. D. Cope ........
Bibliography
PAGE
102
403
104
105
105
106
106
108
108
109
113
lis
113
113
113
113
114
IIT
119
121
LIST OF WOOD-CUTS.
Figure 1. Portion of craniam of Crotalus .....
Figure 2. Diagram of the bony parts concerned in raising the fang .
Figure 3. Palatal view of the muscles of the upper jaw and base of the skull'
Figure 4. Side view of the right temporal muscles and venom gland
Figure 5. Side view of the left temporal muscles, gland, duct, and fang
Figure 6. A. The gland and temporal muscles seen from above. £. Diagram of duct and
gland — side view ......
Figure T. Microscopical structure of the venom gland
Figure 8. Epithelial cells of the main duct and receptacle at the base of the gland
Figure 9. Non-striated muscular fibre-cells of the sphincter of the duct
Figure 10. Diagram illustrating the succession of the fangs .
Figure 11. Crystals deposited from the diluted venom of the 0. confiuentus (Prof. Hammond)
Figure 12. Appearance of muscular fibre after contact with venom . . . .
PAGE
T
10
11
13
14
14
19
32
80
' In Fig. 3, p. 9, Description — d is described as tlie spheno-palatine muscle. It should be labelled, Central
raphe at the base of the sliuU.
INTRODUCTION.
Popular tradition has long nourislied a general aversion to serpents. This
dread, fostered by the singular qualities of the snake tribe, has become so familiar
an idea to most minds, as to lead to the belief that it is of instinctive origin, and
not sown, as it surely is, by the hand of traditional prejudice.
However produced, dread and disgust seem to have had some influence in
preventing physicians in this country from investigating the venom of the species
of serpents, whose strange peculiarities and fatal powers have most urged them
upon their notice. It has thus happened, that with the exception of the Essays
of Barton and Brainard, the cis-Atlantic literature of this subject has been confined
to scattered notices and incomplete statements of cases, to be found with difficulty
in the pages of our numerous medical journals.
Apart from the European and East Indian publications upon snake-bites, we
know or have learned but little that is new; and if we except the works of
Fontana, Mangili, Bonaparte, and one or two others, in no part of the world has
modern science done much to further this inquiry.
Such being the case, I conceive that no excuse is required in presenting the
results of investigations upon a subject which has peculiar claims on the attention
of our countrymen.
A large part of what is here set forth has some pretension to be regarded as
original research ; but the subject is so ample, and has presented itself under so
many points of view, that I can scarcely regard this paper as more than a re-opening
of the matter; and I feel that however full it may be upon some points, it is rather
the pledge of future labors than a complete exposition of the subject upon which
it treats. For the researches which form the novel part of the following essay, I
claim only exactness of detail and honesty of statement. Where the results have
appeared to me inconclusive, and where further experimental questioning has not
resolved the doubt, I have fairly confessed my inability to settle the matter. This
course I have adhered to in every such instance, thinking it better to state the
known uncertainty thus created than to run the risk of strewing my path with
errors in the garb of seeming truths.
In the following researches I have made use almost altogether of the single
1
INTRODUCTION.
species of Rattlesnake, usually known as the Grotalus durissus. Of this I have
had living specimens from Lake George, and from various localities in the Alle-
ghanies of Pennsylvania and Virginia. In Mr. Cope's Summary at the end of this
Essay, the reader will find all the necessary details as to the zoological characters
of this serpent.
CHAPTEK I.
OBSERVATIONS ON THE HABITS OF THE CROTALUS WHEN IN
CAPTIVITY.
During a large part of two years, the period which this research has occupied,
I was a portion of each day in the room where the reptiles were kept, and conse-
quently observed with care such of their habits as could be studied while they
were in confinement. In regard to these I have a few observations to make,
before considering their physiology and toxicology.
It is by no means my intention to give a full account of the habits of the
Crotalus, since this would involve a great deal of detail which is to be found else-
where, and which would be foreign to the general purpose of this essay.
The Rattlesnake of our Northern States, when at liberty, sometimes lives in
the company of his fellows, but more frequently alone. I have had, in a single
box, from ten to thirty-five snakes, and have never observed the slightest signs of
hostility towards one another. Even when several snakes were suddenly dropped
upon their fellows, no attempt was made to annoy the new-comers, while the sudden
intrusion of a pigeon or a rabbit was met with ready resentment, whenever the
snakes were fresh and in vigorous health.
The habits of Rattlesnakes, when in confinement, are singularly inactive. Even
in warm weather, when they are least sluggish, they will lie for days together in a
knotted mass, occasionally changing their position, and then relapsing into perfect
rest. The contrast between this ordinary state of repose, or sluggish movement,
and the perilous rapidity of their motion when striking, is most dangerously decep-
tive. In contrast also with their slow locomotion is the marvellously rapid action
of their rattles, which, when annoyed or molested, they will sometimes continue
to agitate for hours at a time.
It is the general experience of those who have kept rattlesnakes, that they
seldom eat in captivity. I have known a snake to exist for a year without food,
and although I have made every effort to tempt my own snakes, I have never
seen any one of them disposed to avail itself of food, when placed within its
reach. Dumeril states that this is the usual experience in the Garden of Plants,
but that at the end of six or eight months they commonly accept food. He also
adds that the very young pigeon is the food they are most inclined to eat.
After tempting the snakes with this, as well as with birds, mice, rabbits, etc.,
and finding the food as often untouched, I finally gave up the attempt, and con-
tented myself with feeding, by force, such of them as seemed feeble and badly
nourished. For this purpose, I used milk and insects, which I placed in their
throats, while they were properly pinioned. To effect this, the snake was secured,
and the lower jaw held in the grasp of a pair of forceps, while a funnel, with a
4 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
long stem, was thrust down the oesophagus. Into this, insects, such as flies and
grasshoppers, were pushed, or milk poured in proper quantity. Yet, even when
this precaution of forcible feeding was not employed, the snakes remained healthy,
and secreted, as usual, a sufficient amount of venom.
To preserve them, however, in good condition, it is absolutely necessary that
they should be frequently supplied with water, especially in hot weather, and when
they are about to shed their skins. The free snake is said, in this climate, to shed
its cuticle in the month of August. My snakes lost their old integuments at
different periods, during the summer. In all cases, the old skin became very
dark, as the new one formed beneath it. If, at this time, the snakes were denied
access to water, the skin came off" in patches. Where water was freely supplied,
they entered it eagerly at this period, and not only drank of it, but lay in it for
hours together. Under these circumstances, the skin was shed entire — the first
gap occurring at the mouth, or near it. Through this opening, the serpent worked
its way, and the skin reverting, was turned inside out, as it crawled forth in its
new and distinctly-marked outer covering. When the old skin was very loose, the
snake's motions were often awkward for a time. It is said to be blind during this
period, which is probably true to some extent ; since the outer layer of the cornea
is shed with the skin, and there must obviously be a time when the old corneal
layer lies upon the new formation. It is also said that the fangs are lost at the
same time as the skin. In some instances, this was observed to be the case; but
whether or not it is a constant occurrence, I am unable to say from personal
observation.
It is most probable, as I have elsewhere stated, that not only are the fangs shed
when the skin is lost, in summer, but that their loss is a frequent occurrence, like
the loss of teeth in certain fish, and takes place at intervals, more or less frequent,
certainly oftener than once a year.
A general opinion prevails that, immediately after the loss of the skin, the
snakes become most virulent. As they are slothful during the period of change,
and strike then with reluctance, if at all, and as the loss of the fang involves, to
some extent, the accumulation of poison in the gland cavities, this view may be
correct. There is no ground, however, for supposing that the effect of this storing
up of the venom would be greater at this period than after a similar amount of
accumulation at another time.
After such numerous and long-continued opportunities of observation, it might
be supposed that I should be prepared to speak authoritatively, as to the still
disputed power of the snake to fascinate small animals. If the power exist at all,
it is probable that it would only be made use of when the serpent required its aid
to secure food. We have seen that even the most healthy snakes lose their appe-
tite when imprisoned, and beyond this condition, my chances of observation have
been limited. Those who are still curious in the matter will find the fullest account
of it in the Essay of Dr. B. S. Barton. In despite of the learned and ingenious
argument of this author, there are not wanting large numbers, who claim to have
witnessed, again and again, the exercise of the power of charming on the part of the
Kattlesnake and Black Snake. Dr. Barton, who does not deny that the appearance
OP THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 5
of fascination lias been often observed, explains it by supposing that in these cases
the pai'ent bird, alarmed at the near approach of danger to her nest of young,
hovers anxiously about the snake, as she would about any other cause of danger,
and thus sometimes falls a victim to her maternal anxiety. This theory, Dr.
Barton believes sufficient to account for the fluttering and strange movements of
the bird, and the arguments with which this view is upheld, are certainly entitled
to great respect. While the anxiety and terror of the parent bird would readily
attract notice, the real object of the snake, and the true cause of the mother's
approach to the very jaws of destruction, would be more than likely to escape the
notice of such persons as are usually called upon to observe the supposed fact.
I have seen but one occurrence that might mislead as to the subject of fascina-
tion. I have very often put animals, such as birds, pigeons, guinea-pigs, mice, and
dogs, into the cage with a Kattlesnake. They commonly exhibited no terror after
their recovery from alarm, at being handled and dropped into a box. The smaller
birds were usually some time in becoming composed, and fluttered about in the
large cage until they were fatigued, when they soon became amusingly familiar
with the snakes, and were seldom molested, even when caged with six or eight
large Crotcdi. The mice — which were similarly situated — lived on terms of easy
intimacy with the snakes, sitting on their heads, moving round on their gliding
coils, undisturbed, and unconscious of danger. Larger animals were not so safe,
especially if they moved abruptly and rapidly about the snakes. The birds, mice,
and larger animals, often manifested an evident curiosity, which prompted them to
approach the snake cautiously. Sometimes this was rewarded by a blow, as was
sure to be the case, when a dog indulged his inquisitiveness by smelling the snake
with his muzzle. Sometimes the snake retreated, and struck only when driven to
bay. Usually, the smaller animals indulged their inquisitive instinct unliurt, and
were allowed to live for days in the same cage with the dreaded reptiles.^
These are the sole facts which I have seen, bearing any relation to the supposed
fascinating faculty. They appear to me to lend no strength to the idea of its
existence.
There is a popular belief which ascribes to the Rattlesnake a most disagreeable
odor, and even naturalists have been led to believe that the serpent owed to this its
power to lure and stupefy animals. In this matter, I agree with Barton." I have
never perceived that any peculiar odor issued from my snake-box, and as to its
ability to injure birds, the facts above stated should suffice to disprove it. As
usual, however, this pound of error contains its grain of truth. When a Eattle-
snake is roughly handled, especiall3' about the lower half of its length, a very heavy
and decided animal odor is left upon the hands of the observer. If the snake be vio-
lently treated, causing it to throw itself into abrupt contortions, thin streams of a
yellow or dark brown fluid are ejected to the distance of two or three feet. This
fluid appears to come from glands alongside of the cloaca. Its odor is extremely dis-
agreeable, and it is irritant when it enters the eye, although not otherwise injurious.
^ It is proper to add, that the curiosity thus exhibited by animals, and especially by mice and dogs, was
as active when the snake was not regarding the intruder, as at other times.
- Barton, p. 24.
PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
CHAPTER II.
ANATOMY OF THE VENOM APPARATUS.
The subject of the myology of the Eattlesnake has been considered at length,
in several systematic works, and in the monographs referred to at the close of this
paper. For the fullest details, it would be necessary to refer the reader to the
books in question. Since, however, it is impossible otherwise to convey an accu-
rate idea of the mode in which the fangs are employed, I am forced to describe the
parts concerned, and the general mechanism of their motions. It is the more
necessary to dwell, at least, briefly, on this matter, because some of the French
observers have fallen into error, as regards the action of certain of the muscles
concerned in the elevation and depression of the fangs.
I shall first describe, as shortly as possible, the bones involved ; then the muscles,
and lastly the gland and its duct. Thus prepared, we shall next study the mode
in which the blow is given, and the mechanism, through the agency of which the
poison is ejaculated.
The heads of the true serpents are so constructed as to admit of a large amount
of movement in • the component bones. Thus the zygomatic bones which support
the lower maxillary bones, are loosely articulated to the mastoid bone, which is
itself so mobile as to permit of the greatest possible expansion of the throat.
Anteriorly the superior maxillary bones are united, by ligaments only, to the inter-
maxillaries, and the lower- maxillary bones of each side are also so connected ante-
riorly as to permit of their being widely separated, and of one or the other side of
the inferior jaw being drawn down to some distance, without involving a corre-
sponding motion on the part of its fellow. Finally, the superior maxillary bones,
the pterygoid and palate bones admit of considerable movement, so that the
arches which they form can be widened or narrowed as circumstances may require.
The mobility of these parts is essential to the motions which raise and depress
the fang, and to the deglutition of the large animals upon which the snakes are
accustomed to prey.
The poison fang, when at rest, projects downwards and backwards into the
mouth of the serpent. It is firmly anchylosed in the alveolar process, which
crowns the summit of the shortened upper maxillary bone. Fig. 1, d, whose pecu-
liar brevity is characteristic of venomous snakes. The superior maxillary bone is
of a rather irregular triangular shape, abruptly cut ofi:' below to form the alveolar
socket. One face of this bone is smooth, and looks inwards and slightly forwards.
OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 7
A second looks forwards and outwards. This facet is smooth below/ but is exca-
vated above into a deep fossa, which in the fresh snake is partially closed by
Fio;. 1.
Portion of CKANinii of Ckotalus. — Right side. Osteology. Bones concerned in tlie movements of the fang, a,
external pterygoid bone ; b, internal pterygoid bone ; c, palatal bone ; d, superior maxillary bone ; e, lachrymal
bone.
soft tissues, but is still sufficiently remarkable as lying between the eye and nares.
In the dry bone this large fossa opens upwards freely through the base of the bone,
and thus separates the two surfaces by which the bone articulates with the ecto-
pterygoid and lachrymal bones respectively. Anteriorly, the superior maxillar'y
bone presents a rounded angle, from which diverge the two lateral sides just
described. Posteriorly, the superior maxillary exhibits a third face, which is flat
only half way down the bone, and terminates in an abrupt edge forming the poste-
rior boundary of the alveolar socket.
Anteriorly, and above, the maxillary bone articulates by a ginglymoid joint with
the short triangular lachrymal bone. Fig. 1, e, which projects forwards from the
anterior external angle of the frontal bone. The articular facet of the maxilla lies
at the upper end of its front angle. It moves with great freedom on the concave
face of the lachrymal bone, its motion being partially restrained by a short, round,
strong ligament, which runs from the posterior and inner edge of the lachrymal
bone to be inserted on the back edge of the base of the maxilla, just above the
articulation of the ecto-pterygoid bone.
The lachrymal bone has itself some movement on its frontal articulation, and by
this the maxilla obtains indirectly an additional extent of forward motion. At the
upper edge of the posterior surface of the maxillary bone, it receives the expanded
and flattened end of the ecto-pterygoid bone, Fig. 1, a. Upon tracing .the line of
motion, of which this bone is capable, it will be seen that it lies below the lachrymal
joint, and that, consequently, when it moves forwards, the fang must rise, as the
superior maxillary rocks on the articulating face of the lachrymal bone.
The superior maxillary is indirectly attached to the palate bone. Fig. 1, c, and
internal pterygoid, Fig. 1, h, by virtue of the strong connection of these bones with
the ecto-pterygoid. This connection is so close that every free motion of either of
'■ The parts are described as though in situ.
8 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
the two former bones must inevitably affect the hitter, and through it again the
maxilla and its single tooth.^
The motion of the maxillary bone on its lachrymal articulation will, perhaps,
be better undex'stood upon reference to the accompanying diagram of the parts.
Diagram of the Bony Parts concerned in raising the Fang. — a, pterygoid bone ; /, m., arrow marking its line of
motion ; p, e, pterygoideus esternns muscle ; </, frontal bone ; d, lachrymal bone ; c, superior inasillary bone ;
b, fang.
The myology of the subject is more complicated ; yet even here our purpose will
still be answered, if we describe only the muscles concerned, begging the reader to
remember that all further details would be misplaced and useless. On reference
to Fig. 3, it will be seen that the spheno-pterygoid, a, a strong muscle, arises along
the raphe at the base of the cranium, and running backwards and outwards, is
inserted fan-like upon the pterygoid plate. Acting from the fixed base of the
skull upon the movable pterj'goid bone, it must draw this bone forward, and,
rocking the superior maxillary on its lachrymal joint, erect the fang. Fig. 2, I — m
and arrow.
A second large muscle, the pterygoideus externus. Fig. 3, h, arises from the tough
aponeurosis covering the zygomatico-mandibular articulation of the lower jaw, and
as it runs forward below the poison gland and to its inner side sends a strong
layer of white fascial tissue out upon the capsule of the gland. Some of its lower
fibres are finally inserted directly into the two lips or edges of the mucous sheath
of the tooth fang. A larger part of the muscle is inserted tendinously into an
apophysis of the superior maxillary bone exteriorly to the articulation of that bone
with the external pterj^goid, and a little below it. The mechanical necessities
arising from the position of this muscle are easily seen; for when the external
pterygoid acts, it will necessarily depress the fang. This movement will be more
readily comprehended on reference again to the diagram, Fig. 2, in the text, where
]) — e marks the line of action of the force applied by the pterygoid muscle to the
superior maxillary bone and to the edges of the vagina dentis, the sheath of the
fang. The action of this muscle is probably aided by the spheno-palatine, which
arises along the raphe of the base of the skull, above the spheno-pterygoid and
thus nearer the skull, and running diagonally outwards and backwards finds
• These bones rest posteriorly against the articulation of the mandibulee of the lower jaw with the
zygoma ; they consequently share, to some extent, in the movements of this joint.
OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 9
insertion along the inside of the palatal bone. As its fibres cross those of the
spheno-pterygoid, its action antagonizes that muscle and aids the purpose of the
Fio-. 3
Myoiogt. — Palatal view of the muscles of the upper jaw and base of the skull, a, spheno-pterygoid muscle — the
elevation of the fang is caused by its action on the pterygoid and palate bones ; b, external pterygoid muscle — the
retractor of the fang — inserted into the outside of the superior maxillary bone ; c, fascial sheath of this muscle
attached to the capsule of the venom gland ; d, spheno-palatine muscle.
pterygoideus externus. The connection of the palate bone and the pterygoid bones,
wliicli we have already noticed, is essential to this result.
Almost all of the muscles about the head, neck, and jaws of the serpent, take
part either in the motions which precede the blow, or those which inflict and follow it.
Most of these muscles have functions which are obvious and easily demonstrable ;
and we shall, therefore, content ourselves with the briefest reference to all but the
anterior temporal, which plays a far more important part, and requires a fuller
description.
The mouth is opened by muscles, such as the costo-mandibular and the vertebro-
mandibular, with the help of a muscular layer analogous to the platysma myoides.
The articulation of the jaws is fixed by the double action of the digastricus and
cervical angular muscles.
Of the temporal muscles there are three. The anterior temporal, Fig. 4, a,
functionally the most important, arises from behind the orbit and from the upper
Fiff. 4.
Exhibiting the Relation of the Tempokal Mdscles to the Vejjom Gland, a — a, anterior temporal muscle ; 6, its
insertion in the lower jaw ; c, venom gland ; d, the fang half erected.
2
10 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
two-thirds of the firm fascia of the poison gland. Its fibres run backwards over
this body and descend between it and the middle temporal muscle. In this course
the fibres lie posteriorly to the suspensory ligament, and the outer ones, as they
fold about the articular end of the gland, lie in contact with the prolongation of
the external lateral articular ligament upon that body. Finally, the milscle winds
around the commissure of the lips, and is inserted into the lower jaw some distance
in front of the angle of the lips at h, Fig. 4.
The middle and posterior temporal muscles. Figs. 4 and 5, arise chiefly from the
Myology. Lateral view, o — a, gland ; 6, anterior temporal muscle ; c, posterior temporal muscle ; d, digastricus
muscle ; e, posterior ligament of tlie sheath of the gland ; /, vagina dentis— the fang slightly raised.
temporal fossa and are inserted, one behind the other, into the lower jaw. As
these two latter muscles descend nearly vertically, their obvious function is to
close the jaws. The use of the anterior temporal is in part also the closure of the
jaws, but its more obvious oflQce is to press upon the poison gland, as we shall
presently see.
The poison gland of the Crotalus occupies the side of the head, behind the eye,
and beneath the anterior temporal muscle, Fig. 5. Its posterior extremity extends
three or four lines beyond the commissure of the lips. Its anterior end lies below
and just behind the e3'e. Thus situated, the gland is in relation with the bony
surface behind the eye, with the middle temporal muscle, with nerves which emerge
under the suspensory ligament, and with the anterior temporal muscle above and
behind, where that muscle descends to its insertion. Beneath, the gland is in contact
with the external pterygoid muscle, with whose aponeurosis it has peculiar relations.
So much of the gland as lies below the anterior temporal and above the line of the
lip, is in relation with the skin which is here loosely connected with its fascia by
areolar tissue.
The general form of the gland is that of a flattened, almond-shaped oval, the
posterior end being somewhat obtuse, and the anterior tapering to the duct, which
begins just behind and below the eyeball.
The length of the organ, from the insertion of the articular ligament to the
beginning of the duct, was found to be eight-tenths of an inch, in a snake which was
four feet long, and weighed two pounds and two ounces. Its breadth was nearly
two-tenths of an inch, its thickness about one-eighth to one-tenth of an inch.
The poison-glands of six snakes were carefully weighed, after exhausting them
of their contents, during the life of the snakes, and after the ducts and ligaments
had been removed. In the following table, the weight of the gland, and the weight
and length of the snake are given.
OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE.
11
NO.
1 .
weigai.
. 1 lb. 6 oz.
2 .
. 4 "
3 .
. 3 "
4 .
. 3 lb. 6 oz.
5 .
. 2 lb. 4 oz.
6 .
. 3 lb. 9 oz.
It is proper to mention that almost all of these snakes had been in captivity
during periods of from two to eight weeks.
• Length. Weiglit of gland.
. 2 ft. 1 inch . . ■ 7^ grains
. 4 ft. 3J inches . . 11^ "
. 2 ft. 9 " . . .9
. 3 ft. li " . . . 9A "
. 3 ft. i" " . . . Ti "
.4ft. ... 12| "
It will be seen from this table that very little relation can be established between
the size and weight of the snake, and the weight of the gland, beyond the mere
fact of the general increase in the size of the organ, with that of the snake.
The poison gland is invested with a double layer of white, and not very yield-
ing fibrous tissue. The two layers of this membrane are united at the base of the
gland, and becoming thinner anteriorly, they run off upon the duct, constituting
a portion of its thickness. Besides furnishing attachment for the anterior temporal
muscle, the outer layer of this capsule gives off three remarkable ligamentous
expansions which suspend and confine the gland.
The posterior of these is a narrow, but strong ribbon of fibrous tissue, see Fig.
5, e, which runs from the posterior extremity of the gland to the articulation of
the jaw, where it appears by its continuation backwards, to constitute one of the
external ligaments of that joint.
The second, which we shall term the suspensory ligament, lies behind the gland,
Fig. 6.
<il Ne \C
A. The Gland and Temporal MnscLES seen from above.— a, the gland ; h, anterior temporal muscle ; c, suspensory
ligament of the gland extended ; d, duct, drawn from its position.
B. Dlagram of D0CT and Gland — side view. — a, the venom gland ; b, the duct, at its curve ; c, the sphincter ; d,
fang ; e, superior maxillary hone.
Fig. 6 ^, c, a little above its middle line. It arises as a fan-like expansion upon
the capsule, and finally narrows to one-third, and is inserted on the bony surface
12 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
to the inner side of the gknd. This ligament is i-emarkably strong and unyield-
ing ; it supports the gland perfectly, and even acts as a passive antagonist to the
force exerted by the anterior temporal muscle, while at the same time it shelters
the large nerves which emerge beneath it from the skull.
The third attachment of the gland is by means of a fascia, which foi'ms a strong
expansion upon the external pterygoid muscle, Fig. 3, c, and then runs off
laterally, to be inserted upon the outer capsule of the gland. This connection is
principally with the lower and anterior portion of the gland. Its object will attract
our attention in another place.
Anteriorly, and along its upper edge, the gland is secured by areolar tissue, con-
necting it with the edges of the temporal fossa, and the posterior edge of the orbit.
At the extreme anterior point of the temporal muscle, however, a portion of its
proper aponeurosis is gathered into a band, to which run also similar fibres from
that part of the capsule of the gland which lies below the muscle. This collection
of rather delicate fibres — for in the Crotalus it can scarcely be called a tendon —
runs forward above the flexure in the duct, and below the eye, to lose itself on the
edge of the fossa, and about the base of the superior maxillary bone. Soubeiran
describes in the Viper a tendinous insertion of the anterior temporal, as taking the
track here described. I have been unable to discover this insertion in any of my
dissections of the Crotalus.
In almost every account of the anatomy of the Crotalus, and in neai'ly all of
the essays upon the effect of its venom, some allusion is made to a sac, or reservoir
of poison. Strictly speaking, there is no such organ, and the only provision for
the accumulation of venom is to be found in the duct, and its enlargement within
the gland.
The duct expands somewhat suddenly, as it enters the gland, and being directed
backwards and a little upwards, forms an irregularly-rounded cavity, which runs
nearly the whole length of the gland. Into this receptacle, the smaller ducts of
the gland empty their contents. From the sides of this cavity there run obliquely
upwards, and a little backwards, from five to eight layers of white fibrous tissue,
which, lying transversely to the long axis of the gland, separate its secreting
portion into lobes, which narrow as they approach the central cavity. The septa
here described are finally lost in the capsule of the gland. On their passage out-
wards, they send off numerous branches and thin sheets of tissue which proceed
upwards, for the most part, but also across the lobes, and thus involve the
secernent structure in a supporting scaffolding, of the firmest possible character.
The gland so constructed, resembles very strikingly, in section, the appearance
of a small testicle. Its color is usually of a pearly or gray-white within, except
under certain pathological conditions, when it is full of blood, and presents exter-
nally a darkly-mottled look.
The intimate structure of the poison gland resembles very closely that of the
typical salivary glands. From the open space at the base of the gland, a number
of ducts run up into its substance, and dividing, pass towards the periphery. The
direction of these ducts is, for the most part, backwards and upwards. Owing to
the strength of the fibrous bands which traverse the gland, and to the extreme
OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE.
13
softness of the intermediate tissue, I have found great difficulty in tracing the
smaller ducts, Fig. 7, h. Soubeiran^ describes them in the Viper, as terminating in
minute pouches of amorphous matter. Rymer Jones (article " Reptilia," Cyclopedia
of Anatomy and Physiology) also speaks of the ducts dividing, to form smaller
Fig. 7.
Microscopical Stkuctuee of the Venom Gland. — a, secernent oceca ; 6, small ducts
tubes, on which are finally developed secernent coeca. Fig. 7, a, like those of the
ordinary salivary glands. In perfectly fresh specimens, these coeca can sometimes be
made out. They are lined with pale tessellated and nucleated rounded epithelia,
and are commonly filled with amorphous and granular matter. Fig. 7, a. The
epithelia in question are very easily altered, and in glands kept for a few hours in
summer, are scarcely to be recognized. The smaller ducts are lined with a pale
and narrow columnar epithelial cell, Fig. 7, h. The cavity at the base of the gland,
as well as the main duct which connects with the fang, are lined with large pave-
ment-epithelial cells, which possess distinct nuclei. Fig. 8, a. This form of epithelia
is not usually encountered in this position, in homologous glands, whose ducts are,
on the contrary, covered internally with columnar epithelia. Outside of this cellular
layer, the poison duct is made up principally of white fibrous tissue, with a small
proportion of very fine fibres of yellow elastic tissue. The walls of the duct are
provided throughout with an abundant supply of bloodvessels.
Just above the line of the lip, and consequently at the base and outer side of
the maxillary bone, the duct, in turning to descend this bone, becomes abruptly
larger, for a distance of a line, or a line and a half. Fig. 6 B, c. Its color at this
point is also a little redder than the rest of the duct. Beyond this point, the duct
again becomes smaller. If now a probe be introduced into the duct, and its whole
^nuhcirnn, De la Vipere. Paris, 1855, p. 47.
14 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
length divided, it will be observed that the calibre of the canal does not enlarge,
until it reaches the gland, and that the appearance of increased size here described,
is due to a distinct thickening of the walls of the tube.
Fiar. 8.
a, Epithelial cells of main duct, and of the receptacle at the base of the gland ; 6, pigment-cells of the duct.
Fig. 9.
NON-STKIATED MdSCULAB FiBEE-CELLS OF THE SPHINCTER OP THE DuCT.
Upon cai'eful examination of the nature of this tissue, I found it to be formed
by an increase in the amount of fibrous tissue, and by the addition of a layer of
OP THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 15
elongated fusiform cells, Fig. 9, each having a single nucleus, and sometimes a long,
dark nucleolus.
These elements are undoubtedly the characteristic cells of non-striated muscular
tissue.-^ Their presence, together with the form and position of this enlargement,
enables us to view it as a sphincter placed upon the duct, for the purpose of
restraining the wasteful flow of the secretion. This portion of the wall of the duct
contains numerous irregular, stellate, pigment-cells. Fig. 8, h. So far as I am
aware, no author has described this adjunct to the venom apparatus. Of its pur-
pose, however, I have no doubt ; and that some such provision does exist, is plain,
from the fact that, when in the living Rattlesnake the jaws are separated, and the
fangs caught on the edge of a thin cup, and erected, it is usually very difficult to
produce a flow of venom. Even when the operator presses upon the glands, the
poison is rarely ejected, without the voluntary aid of the snake itself^ After death,
the remnant of fluid in the gland, although small in amount, is easily forced out
along the duct, and through the fang. It is, therefore, very plain, that the snake
has the power to restrain the flow of venom, even when the fangs are in such a
position as that without the aid of the arrangement we have described, they must
inevitably permit of the escape of the poison.
Beyond the sphincter, the duct becomes smaller in calibre, and the walls thin-
ner. To reach the fissure at the base and anterior aspect of the fang-tooth, the
duct runs up the posterior edge of the fossette, and winds over the rounded antero-
lateral shoulder of the superior maxillary bone to reach its anterior face, where it
communicates with the fissure in the fang. The value of the course thus taken by
the duct, we shall elsewhere consider.
Another peculiarity in the course of the duct, should, however, claim attention,
as it has also a mechanical use. Just below the eye, the duct is abruptly bent,
as indicated in Fig. 5.
In its passage from the gland to the tooth, the duct is held in place by a sheet of
rather close areolar tissue, which admits of the curves in the tube being straight-
ened, as occasion requires. The part nearest to the gland also receives some of the
fibres from the dense fascia which invests the external pterygoid muscle.
The structure of the fang in venomous serpents has been so minutely described
by Owen,^ that a brief synopsis of his views will be all that we shall require. I
have carefully examined the fang-tooth by the aid of fine sections, and I have
nothing to add to the following excellent description by the author above mentioned.
" To give an idea of the structure of this tooth, we may suppose a simple,
slender tooth, like that of a boa-constrictor, to be flattened, and its edges then bent
towards each other, and soldered together, so as to form a tube, open at both ends,
and inclosing the end of the poison duct. The duct which conveys the poison.
' Dr. Woodward, who was so kind as to examine these structures, agreed with me as to their nature.
° This is only true of the active animal ; when insensible from chloroform, the glands are easily emp-
tied by pressure.
= Owen on the Skeleton and Teeth, Philada. 18.54, p. 25T, and Cyclopedia of Anatomy and Physio-
logy, article Teeth.
16 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
although it runs through the centre of the tooth, is really on the outside of the
tooth. The bending of the dentine beyond it, begins a little beyond the base of
the tooth, where the poison duct rests in a slight groove, or longitudinal indenta-
tion, on the convex side of the fang ; as it proceeds, it sinks deeper into the sub-
stance of the tooth, and the sides of the groove meet and coalesce, so that the trace
of the inflected fold ceases, in some species, to be perceptible to the naked eye, and
the fang appears, as it is commonly described to be, perforated by the duct of the
poison gland."
The tooth fang, in the Rattlesnake, has a peculiar double curve. The lower
curve is large, and has an anterior convexity ; the upper involves only two or three
lines of the length of the tooth from the point down, and is nearly straight, or
presents a slight concavity anteriorly. The whole length of the fang, from point
to base, was j-5_ of an inch in a snake, four feet two inches long. One-tenth of an
inch below the point. in this tooth, the poison canal opened on the anterior, or con-
vex surface of the fang. Above this, the fang was solid ; as the true pulp cavity
terminated some distance lower down. The point of this singular weapon is brittle,
but of an exquisite fineness. The tooth thus described, is firmly anchylosed to the
submaxillary bone, its base being luted to the portion of bone ai'ound its side and
antei'ior aspect. Posteriorly, the bone possesses a hollow, in which is lodged the
tooth sac. In the open mouth of this alveolar process, within the mucous mem-
brane, and upon the pterygoid bone, lie one behind and below another, the reserve
fangs, each smaller than the one in front, and less and less developed, until the
situation of the last which is visible, is marked by a minute papilla alone. I have
counted from eight to ten of these on each side. A very good account of their
gradual development has been given by W. J. Burnett.^ The details do not
directly concern us here.
When the fang is lost by a natural process, it is replaced within a few days.
When violently displaced, several weeks sometimes elapse before the next fang is
fixed firmly enough to be useful to the snake.
If the functional fang be lost or shed, the next tooth gradually assumes its
position, but of the mode in which the communication is re-established between
the poison duct and the fissure of the lower part and front of the new tooth, we
have had no correct knowledge until a recent period.
Burnett states, that " the original tooth follicle appears to him to become the
poison gland or sac." He then goes on to support this view briefly, still speaking
of the poison gland as possibly accompanying the tooth in its forward movement.
Dr. Burnett must have made this statement under a misconception, as it is well
known there is no poison sac or gland at the base of the fang, or in immediate
connection with it.
Moi'e recently, the subject of the development of the fangs and the mode in
which the fixed fang is replaced, when shed or broken, have been carefully studied
by my friend. Dr. Christopher Johnston, of Baltimore, whose skill as an observer,
» W. J. Burnett, M. D., Boston Nat. Hist. Soc, vol. iv. p. 311-323.
OP THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 17
as well as his peculiar knowledge of dental structures, entitle his views to great
respect.
At my request, Dr. .Johnston has repeated his observations, and most kindly
placed them at my disposal. The following statement is in his own language : —
" The study of heads prepared by me, leads me to entertain the following opinion
as to the manner in which secondai'y fangs establish a communication with the
poison duct. There appears to me good reason to believe that there is a periodical
fall of the venom fangs, quite independent of violence ; and this is to be regarded
as a physiological circumstance agreeing with what takes place in fishes, as Pike
or Gar, and in reptiles, as Iguana, as well as with what occurs in the jaws of
Megalosaurus, Hadrosaurus, etc. For I have not observed in the jaws of Crotali of
the same species a constant relation between the size of the serpent and of its
fangs ; and when I couple with the disproportion alluded to, the fact, that at nearly
all seasons, reserve fangs and germs are found in every degree of advancement or
development, I cannot suppose that the almost mature secondaries are awaiting an
accident to effect their promotion. We know that in Alligator especially, the
secondaries occasion by their development the erosion of the base, and the con-
sequent displacement of their predecessors, and assume positions from which they
are to be in turn expelled.
" In Crotalus, the secondary fangs lie in separate capsules at the bottom of the
dens in the mucous membrane, where the fangs crouch when not erected. Their
pulps are arranged in order upon a gum which lies at the base and to the inner
side of the functioning fang ; and each developing fang is inclosed in a separate
capsule and points directly backwards.
" Now a transverse section of a pulp in any part of its extent, gives a crescentic
figure, hardly perceptible as a crescent at the point, evidently lunate with separate
horns on either side of the distal aperture of the poison canal, and again a crescent,
but with closely approximated cornua, throughout the rest of the crown, where the
two longitudinal folds of dentine meet along the median line and are fused together,
" As the growth of the tooth advances, a slight annular enlargement marks its
neck, or at least the limit of the crown, and then the two horns of the pulp diverge
widely, at the upper part of the base, which is in process of formation, but again
approach each other, yet without meeting, as the base goes on to completion. It
may here be remarked, that the pulp acquires greater volume at this part of the
fang, which is more extended along the posterior edge than in front, and is marked,
both internally and externally, with conspicuous longitudinal flutings.
" The dentine of the basal portion in front, necessarily follows the modelling
pulp ; and as this, by the separation of the anterior lamellae, leaves an ovoidal
hiatus, so the tooth substance investing the matrix shows the free edge of its folds
on either side as the margin of a large aperture, the inlet .of the poison canal. ALL
this occurs while yet the tooth-capsule is entire.
" In this condition the secondary fang remains until the fang in use falls sponta-
neously or by violence ; and the secondaries behind it will be found to exhibit
successive inferior stages of development. At length the prime fang is removed, if
spontaneously, by the atrophy of the pulp, and, I believe, by erosion of the basal
3
18 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
anchylosed portion ; if it be broken off by violence, the freedom of the pseudo socket
is accomplished by the same means. And now the first tooth of reserve is urged
forwards into a recess in the maxillary bone directly adjacent to, and on the inner
side of the fallen fang ; and the requisite advancement is brought about by the
developmental vis a tergo of the remaining reserve pulps, and probably also by the
traction in front, exerted by the cicatrizing parts. It is evident that the fang
emerges from its capsule, and that the point and crown repose in the den, but
the base is closely invested with the capsular remains under the form of a perios-
teal expansion, which is the mediate bond of union between the base and the new
and shallow socket of the maxilla.
" As may be perceived, upon examination at this stage, two sockets co-exist in
the same jaw. The inner, new one, supporting the recently promoted fang, and
the outer, old, and now vacant one, which is fast being disencumbered of the ves-
tiges pertaining to its former resident. In this maxilla, the new fang occupies the
innermost part, having the old socket on the outer side, while in the opposite max-
illa, the older venom fang may be discovered in its normal situation, leaving the
recess to its inner side vacant, for the temporary lodgment of its successor. Or,
both fangs being recently fixed to the jaw, the vacuities will both be formed on
the outside, and all the reserve fangs will appear to follow backwards and outwards
in direct line.
" Now let us look at the situation of the poison duct, and examine into the mode
by which it is brought into relation with the fang.
" The venom duct arising from the gland makes a bend upwards, immediately
beneath the eye, then advances forwards under the skin, as far as the crotaline
fossette, and lying upon the maxilla externally, plunges downwards, and pierces
the gum in front of the fang, where it terminates in a papilla, which projects
slightly into the proximal aperture of the tooth. In this position, it is maintained
by the gum which clasps the base laterally and in front, with considerable firmness,
its inferior or distal edge, encompassing the annular enlargement already alluded
to. Nor is there any other than a mediate application of the poison papilla against
the fang, for as the whole venom canal of each tooth is really upon the outside of
the organ, no special membrane lines it which might be continuous with the duct
that discharges into the upper aperture.
"Such is the condition of things in an. old fang, occupying its normal exterior
position. But when the tooth drops out, or is broken, the gum is left entire; or,
if its exodus has been forced, the gum escapes with laceration only. In either
case, however, the gum remains as a barrier, limiting the progress of the advancing
reserve fang; and while the latter is establishing itself provisionally, the gum
encircles it, clasps it tenaciously, and brings the poison papilla in apposition with
its dental aperture. As time passes, the new fang moves gradually outwards to its
permanent seat; the inner maxillary recess is restored, and the first fang of reserve
is again discovered on the inner side of its senior, resting with its pulp attachment
in the bottom of the recess.
" Thus, the reserve fang has become an adult functioning fang, nor does its pulp
OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 19
relax its hold, until fate or mischance dislodge the now fatally-armed tooth which
it animates."
Before leaving this portion of the subject, it is proper to state that the views
expressed by my friend Dr. Johnston, as to the want of direct continuity between
the duct of the poison gland and the tooth canal, have been recently advocated by
Prof Jeffries Wyman, of Boston. It gives me great pleasure to point out this
coincidence of opinion ; and while acknowledging Prof. Wyman's priority of claim
as established by publication, I must not omit to add that Dr. Johnston's manu-
script notes — which I have quoted above — bear the date of Oct. 3d, 1859, since
which time they have been in my own possession.^
The accompanying diagram. Fig. 10, illustrates our views as to the direction
taken by the new fang, in its progress towards the alveolar socket.
It will have been observed that Dr. Johnston states, that the first reserve fang
enters the semilunar socket in the maxilla, to the inside of the active fang. Al-
though this is often or usually the case, it is not uncommon to find the two fixed
Fig. 10.
a
a.-^-^.
a, Alveolar socket ; h, functionary fang ; c, its successor ; d, the next fang in order of age ; e, remaining germs.
fangs, unsymmetrically placed, one on the inner, the other on the outer side, of
their respective alveolse, or both on the- inner side ; or again, both on the outer
side of the said socket.
In all other points, my own researches agree with those of Dr. Johnston.
May 16th, 1860; Proc. Boston Nat. Hist. See.
20 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
CHAPTER III.
THE PHYSIOLOGICAL MECHANISM OF THE BITE OF THE CROTALTJS.
The preceding details will enable us to understand the following statement of
the functions of the various parts described, and to appreciate the mode in which
thej' combine to effect a given purpose.
Of the many authors who have treated of the anatomy and physiology of the
Rattlesnake and other venomous serpents, no one has entered fully into the subject
of the mechanism of the movements which inflict the bite and inject the poison.
Redi, Fontana, Tyson, Ranby, Smith, Home, Duvernoy, Soubeiran, and others,
have nearly all in turn contributed something to this subject, but I find nowhere a
full and complete account of the part played by the various muscles and of the
exact uses of many of the peculiar arrangements of tissue which characterize the
poison apparatus. Nothing, in fact, can be more admirable than the mode in
which the motions in question are effected, and yet while they interest the physio-
logist, from the wonderful example they afford of a series of complex acts following
one upon another in ordered sequence, to effect a certain end, they are not less
interesting to the physician, who may learn from their study how he may be
deceived as to the occurrence of poisoned wounds, and how the snake which
appears to strike may really fail in its object, even though seeming to have
inflicted a wound.
When the Rattlesnake is in repose and unmolested, it sometimes lies at length,
sometimes coiled, or wrapped fold on fold in the loops formed by other snakes which
may happen to be in the same box. So soon, however, as cause is seen for alarm,
the snake extricates itself, if among others, and at once throws its body into the coil
so familiar to any one who has seen serpents, whether venomous or not. Some-
times on the edge, more often in the centre of the coil, the tail projects far enough
to admit of its vibrating freely, and with singular swiftness.
The head is raised a little above the rest of the body, but not, usually, more
than three or four inches, even in large snakes. The neck and upper end of the
trunk are not thrown into complete circles, but lie in two or three abrupt
curves across the mass of the coiled body. The snake is now in position to strike.
While thus at bay, in an attitude of singular grace, the long black tongue is fre-
quently protruded, a common movement among all serpents when irritated. Just
before the blow the snake makes a hissing sound, which is caused by the act of
expiration, and is due to the passage of air through the narrow glottis. It is
louder in certain innocent serpents than in the Crotalus.
The mechanism of the forward cast of the body, which next occurs, is a very
OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 21
simple matter. The muscles which lie upon the convexity of the bendings formed
by the upper part of the snake, are suddenly and violently contracted, so as
abruptly to straighten the body, and thrust it forward in a direct line. The force
residting from this motion is not very great, as I have often ascertained when a
snake has struck the end of a pole which I was holding, nor would it alone suffice
to bury the fang in a tough skin, were it not for the acts which follow and aid it.
In effecting this forward thrust of the neck and head, the serpent employs only
the upper part of its body, and, consequently, is unable, under any circumstances,
to strike at a greater distance than one-half its length, while usually its projectile
range does not exceed a third of its length. An impression prevails that when
the snake lies coiled, its head is raised very high to enable it to strike downwards.
It seems, however, to be of no moment, in what direction the danger threatens,
since it can, at will, cast itself forwards, downwards, or almost directly upwards.
As the animal comes within reach, of which the snake does not always judge
with accuracy, the latter executes the movement just described. At the instant,
and wtiile in motion, the jaws are separated widely, and the head is bent somewhat
back upon the first cervical bones, so as to bring the point of the fang into a favor-
able position to penetrate the opposing flesh. Owing to the backward curve of the
tooth, this, of necessity involves the opening of the jaws to such an extent, that an
observer standing above the snake, can see the white mucous membrane of the
mouth, as the blow is given. The peculiar articulation of the lower jaw upon an
intermediary bone, in place of upon the body of the skull, greatly facilitates this
action. On examining the neck and head, it will also be seen that the head, under
the influence of the cervical prolongation of the mass of the spinal muscles, is
capable of being bent backwards to no inconsiderable extent. Consentaneously
with the forward thrust of the body, and with the opening of the mouth, the
spheno-pterygoids act from their firm cranial attachments to draw forward the
pterygoid plate, and thus, through its attachment to the njaxillary to erect the
fang. The function of elevating the fang belongs alone to this muscle, which has
no analogue in the other vertebrate animals. I have frequently tested its power
to raise the fang, by stimulating it with galvanic or other irritants, after decapi-
tating the snake, and although some French observers seem to have had doubts as
to the agencies which efiect the elevation and depression of the fang, there does
not seem to me to be any reason to doubt the share which the spheno-pterygoid
takes in this mechanism. That the mere act of opening the mouth, of necessity
raises the weapon, has often been affirmed, but it is only necessary to separate the
jaws of a living Crotalus to be convinced that this is not the case, and that even
when the mouth is widely opened, the animal has the most perfect control over
the movement of the fang, raising or depressing it at will.
As the spheno-pterygoid acts, the submaxillary bone rocks forward upon its
lachrymal articulation. When the motion reaches its limit, and is checked by the
ligament which I have described, the supporting lachrymal bone, in turn, yields to
the power applied through the maxillary bone. These movements elevate a little
the muzzle of the snake, so as to give to the face a very singular expression during
the act of striking. Their more obvious and important result, is the elevation of
22 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
the fang, which, rising, thrusts off, from its convexity, the cloak-Hke vagina-den tis
so that it gathers in loose folds at its base.
As the unsheathed tooth penetrates the flesh of the victim, a series of move-
ments occur, which must be contemporaneous, or nearly so. The body of the
snake still resting in coil, makes, as it were, an anchor, while the muscles of the
neck contracting, draw upon the head so violently, that when a small animal is
the prey, it is often dragged back by the effort here described. If now the head
and fang remained passive, the pull upon the head would withdraw the fang too
soon; but at this moment, the head is probably stayed in its position by the
muscles below, or in front of the spine; while the pterj^goideus externus and
spheno-palatine, acting upon the fang through their respective insertions, into the
posterior apophysis of the submaxillary bone, and the inside of the palate bone,
draw its point violently backwards, so as to drive it more deeply into the flesh.
The muscles alluded to, therefore, antagonize the spheno-pterygoid.
At this instant, occurs a third series of motions, which result in the further
deepening of the wound, and in the injection of the poison.
The lower jaw is closed upon the bitten part, or member. Where the surface
struck is flat and large, this action will have but slight influence. Where the jaw
shuts on a small limb, or member, the consequent effects will be far more likely to
prove serious, since the power thus to shut the mouth materially aids the purpose
of the blow. The closure of the jaw is effected by the posterior middle, and ante-
rior temporal muscles. The first two tend simply to shut the mouth ; the anterior
temporal, however, is so folded about the poison gland, that while it draws up the
lower jaw, it simultaneously compresses two-thirds of the body of the gland.
This force is applied in such a manner as to squeeze the fluids out of the upper and
back parts of the gland, and drive them forwards into the duct. The anterior
lower angle of the gland, as well as a portion of the duct, is subjected to similar
pressure at the same instant, owing to the flat tendinous insertion of a part of the
external pterygoid upon the parts in question.
It will thus be observed, that the same muscular acts which deepen the wound,
fix the prey, and inject the venom through the duct, and into the tissues pene-
trated by the tooth.-' The whole process here described at such length, is the work
of an instant, and the serpent's next effort is to disentangle itself from its victim.
This step is effected by relaxing the muscles of the neck, so as to leave the head
passive, while the continued traction of the muscles of the body pull upon it, and
thus withdraw the fang, over which glides the elastic mucous sheath as the
* It follows from the observations of Dr. Johnston, and Prof. Wyman, that no tissue connection
exists between the venom duct and the basal opening in the fang. It becomes necessary, under these
circumstances, to explain how the poison is carried from one to the other. Usually the projecting papilla
at the end of the duct, is held by the gum in close contact with the fang opening, and when the fang, in
rising, thrusts back its mucous cloak, this presses upon the parts at the base of the fang so firmly, as to
bring them into perfect apposition. This explanation is given by Prof Wyman. It does very often
happen, however, that a part only, or even none, of the venom enters the fang, but is violently ejected
between that weapon and the edges of the vagina dentis.
OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 23
pterygoid, again acting, depresses the fang, and the serpent recovers its posture of
defence.
It happens, not unfrequently, that the teeth of the lower jaw catch in the skin
of the bitten animal, and thus prevent the snake from retreating at once. When
this takes place, the serpent shakes its head from side to side, with a motion which
so nearly resembles the shake a dog gives his prey, that it has been mistaken by at
least one observer for an expression of rage. It is really an attempt to escape ;
nor is it always successful, since a large animal will often drag a snake until the
fangs themselves break loose, and are left in, or on, the bitten part.
In considering this portion of our subject, it is well to notice what has been too
much overlooked, the fact that, while the snake commonly employs both fangs, it
does often inflict but a single wound. When obtaining venom from living snakes,
I have been accustomed to allow them to bite upon the inner edge of a cup, and I
have observed that on some occasions both fangs were used at once, and that on
others only one was active. Or, the fangs were used in succession, an appreciable
interval of time intervening. If this occur, when a snake at freedom strikes an
object, it is, of course, possible that the animal may escape before the second fang
is driven in by the traction of its proper external pterygoid muscle. At all events,
it is certain that these facts should receive due appreciation, in estimating the
danger of a given bite, and the value of an antidote.
There remains for consideration one muscular motion, which I have observed
to accompany the eJ0fort to bite, when the snake is held by the back of the neck.
It consists in a turning outwards of the points of the fangs, so as to separate them
from one another.^ This divergence of the fang points is disadvantageous, inasmuch
as it causes them to enter somewhat obliquely, and frequently throws one fang
beyond the part bitten, when that part happens to be small. It has a use with
reference to the snake itself, since the fang-points, when thus widely separated, lie
outside of the lower jaw, and are thus prevented from wounding it. This purpose
is greatly aided by the action of a muscle analogous to the mylo-hyoid, which
approximates the anterior extremities of the lower maxillary, or mandibular bones,
so as to make narrow the extremity of the jaw. The protection thus obtained is
very essential, since the serpent always closes the jaw violently when biting, but
does not always succeed in seizing its prey. Whether or not this divergence of
the fang-points occurs when the snake bites unrestrainedly, I cannot say ; but as I
have been very often astonished at the distance between the wounds, where both
fangs had taken effect, it is highly probable that it occurs under all circumstances.
We have still left for consideration certain points of minor interest, in connection
with the part played by the gland in the train of actions which I have described.
This organ, as we have seen, is violently compressed by the anterior temporal muscle,
and perhaps by the posterior temporal, as well as indirectly by the external pterygoid.
Under the pressure thus applied, the venom passes through the duct, and out of
the fang. Now, as it is clear that the temporal muscles must be often used to
' I could not determine whether this divergence took' place when the snake, at freedom, struck an
animal.
24 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
close the jaws, under circumstances which do not demand the ejection of venom,
we must suppose, either that the anterior temporal is, at times, functionally inactive,
or else that some provision exists for restraining the flow of poison, when the gland
is incidentally compressed during the ordinary movements of the lower jaw, as in
gaping (a common action with snakes), deglutition, etc.
The closure of the duct is provided for in two ways, one of which is peculiarly
ingenious. The first and most effective of these is the sphincter, which I have
already described. The second consists in a peculiar relation between the maxillary
bone and the duct. The antero-lateral surface of the bone is somewhat rounded,
and the duct being confined at the base of the bone, and also perfectly fixed at its
junction with the fang, it happens that when the fang tooth lies flexed in the
mouth, the maxillary portion of the duct is stretched over the rounded shoulder
of bone upon which it rests, thus flattening, and closing its canal more or less
completely.
It is worthy of remark, that the abrupt curve of the duct under the eye, has,
also, a mechanical value. First, as an additional means of interrupting the flow of
venom, when the fang is not in use, and, second, as a provision for preventing
injury to the duct, when, during the action of flxing the fang, the duct is drawn
backward by the muscles, and forward by the sudden and momentary flexion of
the fang, which occurs at this time. Under these two forces, the bend in the duct
is temporarily obliterated.
The power with which the venom is ejected from the tooth, depends somewhat
upon the amount contained in the gland and its ducts. When the snake fails to
strike the object aimed at, the poison is sometimes projected several feet. In one
case which is known to me, it was thrown into the eye of a man standing five or
six feet from the snake, when it struck upwards at a stick held above its coil.-^
* For an account of many facts in connection with snakes, whicli are of popular scientific interest, bat
remote from my present subject, the reader will do well to consult Professor Leconte's paper, Shaw's
Zoology, the various Encyclopedia articles, and the memoir of Prof. Dumeril, to which I have already
referred.
The great tenacity of life on the part of snakes, is alluded to by several of these authors, and is
well known in the form of a very singular popular belief It is certainly very remarkable in the Rattle-
snake, whose reflex motions are admirably retained for some hours after decapitation, and occasionally
are seen as late as the 36th hour. At this late period, they consist in wave-like movements, which run
from the tail upwards, and are most readily excited by pinching the parts about the cloaca. Immediately
after the head has been cut off, the body writhes slowly along the floor, or, if hung up, returns on itself,
twining the pendant trunk around the tail. If, when the body is entirely fresh, we seize the tail, the
headless trunk frequently returns on itself, in the effort to strike the offending hand. Occasionally, this
movement is so perfectly executed, that the bleeding and headless trunk smites the operator's hand before
it can be withdrawn. In one or two instances, persons who were ignorant of the possibility of this
movement, have been so terrified at the blow which has greeted them, as to faint on the spot. To hold
thus the headless snake, has been made a test of firmness in some parts of the West ; and few have been
found composed enough to retain the tail until the innocent, but ghastly stump, struck the hand. Indeed,
any one who may try this little experiment, will discover that it is no easy task to keep a steady gi-asp upon
the tail, even when, in ineffectual efforts, the bleeding neck is thrown towards the irritated parts, but does
not fully succeed in reaching it. It is interesting to observe that, while the person whose nerves are thus
tried, looks at the snake, he can scarcely ever so control himself as to be unmoved ; but, if he close his
OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 25
The study of the complicated mechanism which we have endeavored to explain,
will aid us in understanding several points of interest in connection with the bite
of the Rattlesnake.
It must be perfectly apparent that in a sequence of movements so elaborate, it
will occasionally happen that, from a failure in some one of the essential motions,
the ultimate purpose of the whole will be interfered with. Thus, it sometimes
chances that the serpent miscalculates the distance, and fails from this cause. Or,
again, when the object aimed at is very near, the initial force of the blow is
lost, and the tooth does not enter; no uncommon occurrence, where the animal
struck is an old dog, with a tough skin. Again, if the upper jaw be not elevated
sufficiently, the fangs are sometimes driven backwards, by the force of the for-
ward impulse, as they touch the part attacked, and the venom is then apt to escape
between the tooth and the covering mucous cloak. Upon one occasion, having
allowed a small snake to strike a dog, the former became entangled, owing to the
hooked teeth of the lower maxillary bone having caught in the skin. Upon
examining the snake closely, the dog being held, I found that the convexity of the
fangs lay against the skin, on which were thrown one or two drops of venom. On
removing the snake, and inspecting the part struck, I could find no fang wound,
although the skin was visibly torn by the smaller teeth. I have seen the Rattle-
snake strike with great apparent ferocity, a number of times, when I have been
unable to discover any fang wound whatsoever; and this has taken place, occa-
sionally, with small animals, such as the rabbit, which must have been seriously
affected by even a small amount of venom.
It scarcely ever happens that an animal is bitten, without a part of the injected
venom being cast on the skin, near the wound made by the fangs. This wasted
material probably escapes from the duct, where it is in apposition with the lower
opening of the fang canal, and may be merely that excess of fluid which the fang
cannot carry. In some cases, however, it is quite possible that the relations of
the fang and the duct are so disturbed, that the venom never enters the tooth at
all. It is certainly true, as has been already stated, and as Dr. Wyman has shown,
that the fang must be fully erected in order that the duct shall be so firmly held
in contact with the fang, as to insure the passage of the venom through this latter
organ.
Finally, it sometimes happens, that the blow is given, the fang enters, and from
the quick starting of the animal injured, or from some other interrupting cause, it
is withdrawn so soon that the larger portion of the poison is thrown harmless upon
the surface near the wound. Under these circumstances, the resulting symptoms
are, of course, trifling; and how well such an occurrence would be calculated to
deceive the observer, who emploj'ed an antidote in a like case, can be readily
conceived.
eyes or look away, the source through which the involantary start of alarm, or nervousness, is, so to
speak, dictated, appears to be cut off, and the intellectual and memorial recognition of the snake's powers
is not sufficiently lively to overcome the force of will which is exerted to retain the grasp.
4
26 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
When speaking of the difficulties which surround the study of antidotes to
serpent poison, we shall return again to this subject. Here it is sufficient to have
pointed out such of the fallacies as are due to a want of exact knowledge of the
mechanism concerned in producing the poisoned wound.
The minute details, here given, of the mechanism of the bite, are collected from
many sources already mentioned, and are carefully corrected by numerous, original
observations, dissections, and experimental demonstrations of the mode in which
different muscles acted under galvanic stimulus, applied after decollation and
removal of the skin. So far as I am aware, it is the only full account of the mode
in which the bite is given, and of the parts played by the different organs and
tissues concerned.
OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 27
CHAPTER IV.
THE PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL CHARACTERS OF THE VENOM.
The venom, the injection of which is the sole object of the mechanism we
have been considering, will now claim our attention. In my own researches, I
have felt seriously the want of statements as to the manipulation and mechanical
means employed by preceding observers, when handling, and otherwise using, their
snakes. For this reason, as well as to place the reader upon the "same logical
ground with myself, by giving him every known condition and accompaniment of
each observation, I have, in all cases, described minutely the whole manual of
each experiment. Where these details would have confused the statements of
results, I have placed them in the form of notes.
It would have been an easy task to swell this Essay to an imposing bulk, by
quoting throughout all the comparative results obtained by those who have expe-
rimented on venomous snakes, other than the Crotalus. So full a summary would
not be without use and interest; but, since the mass of these researches have but
little value, I have contented myself with the briefest relation of the opinions of
others, where they did not directly concern the rattlesnake. My main object has
been to present, with brevity, my own results, as regards the Crotalus, with such
illustration, contrast, and comment, derived from the works of others, as seemed
to me essential to this purpose.
Amount of Venom in the Duds. — The amount of venom contained at any one
time in the ducts of the poison gland, varied with the size of the snake, and the
period which had elapsed since the last bite. I have again and again collected
the venom, and have found that serpents of from three to four feet long rarely threw
out more than from two to four drops, after the first ejection had taken place.
When perfectly fresh, healthy, and undisturbed for some weeks in summer, the first
gush of their venom was sometimes astonishingly large. A snake which had served
as a show in Washington, reached me in a box with a glass top, which was firmly
fixed by screws. In all probability this snake had been several weeks without using
its fangs.^ It was secured as usual, and the lip of a cup placed in its mouth. It
^ Manipulation. — The authors who have written upon serpents, have usually obtained their venom
by killing the animal, and compressing the gland (Fontana), or by anaesthetizing it with chloro-
form (Burnett), and then exerting pressure, until the fluid exuded through the duct. Where snakes are
abundant, the first method is perhaps the best, if the head be cut oflf rapidly and suddenly, without
28 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
struck at once with the right fang, but missing the cup, poured a large amount of
venom into its own mouth. The left fang struck an instant aftei', and threw into
allowing tlie snake to bite at any object, and thus exhaust its venom. Where the snakes are not easily
replaced, this plan is plainly not economical.
■ Others have allowed the snake to bite upon soft substances which imbibed the venom readily, and
from which it could be removed by water (Bonaparte). The methods which, after long practice, I have
found most available, I will detail here, after describing the various means which I have found useful in
securing the snakes for experiment, or in removing them from box to box.
In moving snakes, it is customary to employ long-handled tongs, or forceps, which are apt to pinch
and otherwise injure them. I have been in the habit of using for this purpose, a bar of wood four feet
long, and cut off at the end, so as to present a shghtly roughened surface, one and a half inches square.
On one side of the end, a piece of soft and pliant leather strap was nailed securely. This strap was
then carried across the end of the bar, and through a flat staple upon the side opposite to that on which
the strap was fastened. A stout cord, attached to the strap above the staple, was held in the operator's
hand. To use this simple instrument, the strap was drawn down, so as to form a loop, which was easily
slipped over the head of a snake, and there tightened by drawing on the cord. Where it was desirable
merely to secure the venom, the loop was shpped over the head and drawn closely around the neck.
Thus prepared, the snake was placed on the table and retained by an assistant, while the operator
obtained the venom. When it was desirable to have an animal bitten without placing it in the cage, the
loop was carried to the middle of the snake's body, and it was thus allowed movement enough to enable
it to draw back and strike. It is unnecessary to add that during these manipulations, the utmost caution
is necessary to avoid accident.
As it is sometimes essential to detain the snake on the table for some time, without being forced to
employ a person to guard it, I devised a little apparatus, which, although imperfect, answered my ends
well enough. A box, about four inches square, and thirty-six inches long, was divided lengthwise, and
arranged with hinges so as to close readily. The two sections were deeply grooved, so that where the
sides of the box met, the grooves formed a tube large enough to receive the body of a serpent five feet in
length. The large end of the box was fitted with a sliding door which could be secured by a wooden
wedge driven in behind it. The lower edge of the door was made concave, and a piece of leather was
tacked across the concavity, designed to press on the snake's neck, and secure without injuring it.
To employ this arrangement, the box was closed and the door raised, a cord having been previously
run through the central tube. This cord bore on its extremity a loop which was thrown over the tail of
the snake, and carried up between three and four inches. To effect this manoeuvre, I was usually obliged
to hold the snake down with a long stick notched at the end. The serpent being thus noosed, the loop
was tightened, and an assistant tilted the box over the cage, and rapidly drew the snake backwards into
the tube, while a second person standing in front, guided the snake with a long rod.
As soon as the tail appeared at the small end of the box, it was secured by the assistant, and the
looped string which held it was wound around a nail. At this instant, the head sometimes retreated into
the box. After waiting a moment, it usually reappeared again, and was then seized with a pair of long
forceps, and held while the door was pushed down on the neck, and made fast with the wedge. When
the snake was small, it sometimes contrived to turn around in the box before the tail emerged, and thus
reverse its desired position. This occurrence twice exposed the operator to great danger. It was finally
provided against by the aid of a large cork, which was strung upon the cord, and was used to close the
small end of the tube, when the snake was of a size to make it possible for it to turn in the tube.
When the snake was thus properly imprisoned, it could be placed on the table and studied to great
advantage, while it was still able to bite with sufBcient vigor.
At various times I have employed all the methods of procuring venom, which I have enumerated
at the commencement of this note. I have finally laid aside all but the plan of stupefying the snake by
chloroform. This is accomplished by seizing the snake about the middle with the looped staff, and
placing it on the table. An assistant then controls the head and neck, by confining the latter with a
notched stick, while with the other hand he slips over the head a glass vessel about two inches wide, and
containing at the closed end a sponge soaked in chloroform. The snake breathes for a time with only
OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 29
the cup fifteen drops of venom. This is the largest quantity which I have ever
seen ejected by natural process. In a subsequent attempt, the next day, this
serpent, which bit eagerly, threw out only one or two drops from each fang. The
snake was fifty-three inches long, and weighed two pounds four ounces.
It is difiicult to compare the amount of venom ejected by the Crotalus, with that
excreted by the Viper, and the Naja, since, although both EusselP and Fontana^
speak on this point, they seem to have secured the poison from the exsected gland,
or, at least, by pressure after death, and they are, moreover, silent as to the length
and weight of the animals examined.
Jeter^ states that the enlarged duct at the base of the poison gland will hold
usually about ten drops, when distended with accumulated poison.
In four snakes I filled the duct and gland with water. The injection was made
by introducing a small syringe into the duct itself outside of the gland. The fluid
was afterwards expressed from the gland, and measured. In place of estimating
the fluid by the gross plan of dropping it, I employed the following means : A
narrow tube was graduated, so that each division represented a drop of distilled
water. The point being drawn to a fine capillary .termination, enabled me to col-
lect, by gentle suction, the venom, or other fluid, even when it was spread over a
rough surface, or accidentally spilled.
In the accompanying table, I have given the weight and length of the serpents
used, and the amount in water-drops which a single gland in each snake was capa-
ble of containing.
No. 1. C. Durissus. Length'' 18 inches. Weight 9J oz. Capacity of gland 11 drops.
No. 2. " " " 25 " " 18 " " " 19 "
No. 3. " " " 49i " " 3 lbs. 2 oz. " " 29 "
Color of Venom. — The color of the venom varied from a pale emerald green to
orange and straw color. Where the poison had remained a long time in the gland,
it was deeper in hue than when its ejection followed rapidly upon its formation.
I have also observed that in some snakes, it was uniformly of a darker color
a few inches of lung which lie in front of the stick, but as it becomes more insensible, the pressure of
the stick is removed, and the strap of the staff loosened. About twenty minutes are required to com-
plete the process. If it is then found that the lower jaw hangs relaxed when opened, the neck is seized
firmly, the fangs caught on a saucer edge, and the glands stripped from behind forwards by pressure with
the thumb and forefinger. The venom usually escapes alongside of the fang, from under the mucous
cloak. To secure all of the available venom, it is best to wash the fang and the vagina dentis with the
aid of a little water, and a pipette ; but one objection can be urged against this method. One snake in
every four died within from two to five days, and this after apparent recovery from the effects of the
chloroform. It is not impossible that too severe a compression of the venom glands may produce rup-
ture of its substance, and consequent blood-poisoning. This, however, is but conjecture ; and I have
not further examined the subject experimentally.
* Russell on the Poison Serpents of India, p. 40.
= Fontana on Poisons, Trans, by J. Skinner. Loud. ITST, vol. i. 2T'7 — 28T.
^ Poisoned Wounds, etc., a Report of a Committee to the Med. Assoc, of Missouri, by A. F. Jeter,
M.D., p. 10.
' Not inclusive of the rattles.
30 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
than in others ; but of the cause of this difference I know nothing, nor am I able
to associate an increased virulency with any particuLir hue of the poison.
Fontana^ describes the color of the yeuom of the Viper as yellow. Jeter- speaks
of the Crotalus poison as being more frequently of a greenish tint, though some-
times yellowish. Russell gives no information as to the color of Cobra venom,
or that of other East India serpents.
Specific Grai-iiy. — On the subject of the specific gravity of the venom, all authors
are silent, usually contenting themselves with the statement that it is heavier than
water.
As it is very difficult to collect at any one time enough of the venom to admit
of the use of the specific gravity bottle, I was obliged to resort to other means.
Having prepared a solution of sugar in water, of a specific gravity of 1030,
I threw into it with a pipette, a drop of pure venom. Finding that it sunk
rapidly, I increased the strength of the sugar solution, until the venom was
found to float in it midway. This rather coarse means enabled me to estimate
the average specific gravity of the clear poison at 104-4. The specimen employed
came from a snake which had been unmolested for several weeks. To test the
matter further, I collected some poison from the same snake on the two following
days, obtaming but a drop or two on each occasion. The first of these specimens
had a specific weight of 1030. The second was estimated at 1035, so that it is
probable that the poison becomes concentrated by long residence in the gland.
The method of examination here employed is, of course, open to criticism, and
can furnish only approximate calculations ; but, as I know of no other- facts in this
direction, I do not deem it proper to omit even the imperfect results thus attained.
Physical Characters. — The venom examined by me was always more or less glu-
tinous. In the Yiper, it so nearly resembled a gum, that it was described by Fon-
tana as such.-^ That of the Crotalus dries very slowly, and is as adhesive as thick
solutions of gum-acacia. When completely desiccated, it resembled dried albumen,
and presented itself in thin yellow and transparent layers, traversed by number-
less cracks which in the Viper-poison were supposed by Mead to be the edges of
crystals peculiar to the secretion.
Whether fluid or dried, the poison of the Crotalus was devoid of taste, and also
of smell, unless it had undergone putrefaction, to which, like other albuminoid
solutions, it is liable. I have tasted the rattlesnake poison repeatedly, once by
design, and several times through accident, when engaged in collecting it by suck-
ing it into a pipette.
I could not perceive that it had the slightest taste or acridity. Mead alone
describes the venom of the viper as acrid and caustic to the tongue. Fontana
could discern no taste in it, but thought that it benumbed the part on which it
was placed. Brainard* states that the Crotalus venom has '• a peculiar and dis-
' Fontana on Poisons, YI. p. 12. Skinner's Translation.
'^ Jeter on Poisoned Wonnds, p. 20.
^ Fontana, p. 263, vol. i. Skinner's Trausl., where the Abbe examines and disproves this idea.
* Braiuard, Smithsonian Institution, Annual Report of, for 185i, p. 125.
OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 31
agreeable odor, and is said to have a pungent taste." No authority is given for
the latter statement. Jeter^ speaks of it as tasteless, but ascribes to it the power
to benumb the tongue when a drop is placed on that organ. I can only add
that I have never experienced the sensation in question. As respects Prof.
Brainard's account of its odor, it is proper to observe that, although, as I have
said, the venom was usually free from smell, specimens which had remained a long
time in the gland, sometimes had the peculiar animal odor of the snake itself.
Beaction of the Venom. — The subject of the acidity or alkalinity of the venom of
the European viper, was very early a matter of keen dispute. Mead and James
both asserted that it reddened litmus, and was of a distinctly acid reaction. Mead
afterwards disavowed this idea, and agreed with Fontana in calling it neutral.
Jussieu, who followed Mead in his earlier view, also agreed with him in recom-
mending the local and general treatment by volatile alkali, in the hope of neutral-
izing the acid in question. Dr. Brickell,^ of Savannah, appears to have been
the first to examine the reaction of rattlesnake poison. This observer found that
the venom was strongly acid, and reddened litmus paper. Dr. Harlan,^ of Phila-
delphia, also describes it as invariably acid. Brainard, Barton, Jeter, and others,
do not seem to have examined the question.
My own observations on this subject were very numerous, and were directed,
not only towards ascertaining whether or not the venom was acid, but also as to
the normal reaction of the snake's mouth, when free from venom.
I find in my notes the record of eight observations, in all of which the venom
reddened litmus paper more or less distinctly. In a great many unrecorded obser-
vations I obtained no other result. It was uniformly acid, and this reaction was
common to all specimens of the poison, whether moist or dry, dark colored or
pale in tint. One of these specimens was two years old, and, when placed on
litmus paper, and touched with a drop of water, it reddened the paper distinctly.
I do not think that the venom increases in acidity upon being kept ; nor, on the
other hand, does the acid of the venom appear to be volatile, since litmus once
reddened by it, kept the red hue, until exposed to an alkali, which restored the
original blue tint of the test paper. That, finally, the acid was not due to changes
which occurred, exterior to the body of the snake, was shown by the constancy of
the acid reaction in specimens obtained by allowing the serpent to bite upon test
paper folded so thickly as to arrest the fang, and receive the poison directly
from it.
The reaction of the mucous membrane of the mouth was almost as consistently
alkaline as that of the venom was acid. This observation of qourse suggested the
possibility of neutralization taking place, when the poison accidentally reached
the mouth. It was found, indeed, that litmus reddened by the venom became
blue again when left in the serpent's jaws; but, although the acid was neutralized.
* Jeter, p. 20.
= Brickell, Med. Depository, conducted by S. L. Mitchill, M. D., and E. Miller, M. D., New York,
1805, second hexade, vol. ii. p. 441.
' Harlan, Med. and Phys. Researches, 1835, p. 502.
32 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
the poisonous properties of the fluid remained unaltered, as I shall have frequent
occasion to demonstrate.
The want of agreement among observers, as to the reaction of viper poison, is
such, that the point in question should be re-examined by some competent person.
Prince Louis Lucien Bonaparte,^ to whom we owe a chemical analysis of viper
poison, does not appear to have touched the matter, and contents himself with
stating that echidnine or viperine, the essential principle, is neutral, making no
allusion to an acid, when detailing the other ingredients present.
Decomposition of the Venom. — Like most albuminoid matters, the venom entered
into decomposition when long kept in the moist state, but although it then deve-
loped vibriones, and even low confervoid growths, and smelt most horribly, it was
still poisonous. How long it would retain its virulence under these circumstances,
and what extent of putrefactive change might be needed to destroy this quality,
I cannot state from my own experience.
Many specimens of venom let fall, on repose, a white sediment, which, in a
few cases, was very abundant. The clear poison presented no points of interest
when viewed microscopically. When dry, it cracked like dried white of egg,
but under no management has it afforded me crystals. My friend Prof. Ham-
mond^ has been more successful, and has obtained crystals by diluting the venom
of the G. covfluentiis, and allowing the mixture to dry slowly, sheltered by a
cover-glass. (Fig. 11.) The crystals thus formed, resembled those of ammoniaco-
magnesian phosphate, which affect the feathery form of crystallization.
Fiff. 11.
The white deposit was composed chiefly of amorphous, granular matter, with a
few pavement epithelial cells, compound granular bodies of oleaginous character,
and finally of the peculiar masses known and described as colloid bodies,^ and in
* Prince Louis Lucien Bonaparte, Gazetta Toscana, delle Scienze Medico-fisiche, Anno primo, Firenze,
1843. I have been unable to find this memoir, and have been forced to employ Orfila's quotation of his
results. Orfila, Tox. Gen., p. 844.
^ Fig. 11 is taken from Prof. Hammond's drawing, which he kindly put at my disposal.
^ Wedl, Pathological Histology, Trans, of the Sydenham Society, pp. 38, 264, 21 1, etc.
OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 33
appearance so mucli resembling starch granules, as to have induced me to neglect
them at first, and to suppose them to be really that substance, accidentally
present. These corpuscular bodies were marked with delicate radiating lines.
Iodine stained them of a yellowish-brown. They were doubtless due to some
concrete modification of albuminous material.
Occasionally, when the snake had been seriously maltreated, the venom contained
more or less blood.
Chemical Examinatinn. — I much regret having been unable to collect the venom
of the Crotalus in such amount as would have enabled a competent chemist to
make of it an ultimate analysis, to which I believe it has never yet been submitted.
In the following examination, I have contented myself with a qualitative ana-
lysis, which, although not so perfect as I could have desired, appears to me to have
thrown some light on this novel and curious subject.
The fresh venom of the Crotalus begins to coagulate at 140° F., and is almost
solid at 160°. The mode in which I accomplished this observation upon minute
amounts of venom, without desiccating it, will be found detailed in the account of
the influence of temperature upon the virulency of the venom.-'
When a drop of the pure poison was thrown upon platinum foil and heated, it
boiled, whitened, and at last became charred before it took fire.
When a drop of venom was thrown into cold distilled water, it fell rapidly, and
presented a white appearance, which became marked, as it dispersed through the
fluid. It finally dissolved in the water, without residue. This phenomenon of the
whitening of the venom in water, has also been noticed in regard to fresh white of
egg similarly treated.
The pure venom of the Crotalus was subjected to the action of various chemical
reagents, either with the primary object of learning how they would affect it, or
with the purpose of observing whether or not they altered its power to poison.
Nitric acid threw down from Crotalus venom a dense precipitate. Added in
excess, it re-dissolved the larger part of the precipitate, and formed a thin yellow-
ish fluid, in which floated undissolved minute yellow flocculi. Liquor ammonise,
added in excess, did not re-precipitate the dissolved material.
Chlorohydric acid threw down a dense white precipitate, and, added in excess,
completely re-dissolved it, forming a solution colorless, or of a pale yellow, from
which ammonia in excess re-precipitated the dissolved substance in opaque white
masses.
Sulphuric acid threw down from the venom a white precipitate, which, if the
acid were hastily added, or if heated, became yellow or brown.
Acetic acid caused no precipitate from the venom, whether added to it in large
or small amount.
Tannic acid produced a dense white precipitate, which proved to be insoluble in
water, and in an excess of the acid, but was re-dissolved on the addition of a small
amount of ammonia.
* These observations were amply verified at another time, when larger quantities of venom were used.
34 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXIC-OLOGY
Chlorine water caused a dense precipitate. A solution of iodine and iodide of
potassium caused a precipitate which redissolved in an excess of the reagent.''
Soda and potassa had no visible effect on the venom.
Ammonia was also without action upon it, as was also lime-water.
Bichloride of mercury gave with the venom a dense white precipitate.
Sulphate of soda produced a dense precipitate, which redissolved on the addition
of water in excess. The precipitate was, therefore, soluble in a weak solution
of the salt employed.
Sulphate of magnesia, in like manner, caused a precipitate which proved soluble
in an excess of water, as in the last observation.
In both cases the precipitate could be reproduced by increasing the amount of
the salt present, and again, an added excess of water was competent to redissolve
the new precipitate.
Alcohol invariably produced in the venom a heavy, flocculent precipitate, which,
when carefully dried, turned of a pale yellow, and was still more or less soluble in
water. The latter fact was observed, even when the poison had been kept in
alcohol during five weeks. I have also examined the poison found in the ducts of
Kattlesnakes, which had remained in alcohol for two years or more. It proved to
be very slightly soluble in water. There is in this observation, however, a cause
of error ; since in snakes which die violent deaths, the whole gland is often filled
with blood, so that the coagulated substance in the ducts can, with no certainty,
be regarded as venom alone; unless we are informed very fully as to the condition
of the organs, when first immersed in the preserving fluid. This question is one
of considerable interest, and will engage our attention in another place.
An aqueous solution of the venom was evaporated to dryness. A drop of a
solution of sulphate of copper w^as then added, and the mixture treated with a
solution of caustic potassa in excess. In a few minutes it exhibited the violet
color characteristic of albuminous matters thus tested.
The venom was next examined for sulphocyanide of potassium, a constituent of
human saliva, although with slight expectation of detecting it. Five drops were
tested with sulphate of sesquioxide of iron. It produced a heavy white precipitate,
but no red color was observed. Seven drops of the venom were evaporated to
dryness, and treated with the same salt of iron, but without any appearance of the
red hue which indicates the presence- of the sulphocyanide mentioned. These
examinations w^ere repeated several times on as many specimens of the poison, but
always with a negative result. From the small amount of venom employed, they
did not entirely satisfy me, and the subject may still repay a fuller examination. ■
At present it is only safe to affirm that the sulphocyanide, if it exist in the venom
at all, can only be present in a very minute amount, and can in no way be con-
sidered as a causative element, in the production of the symptoms which follow
upon the insertion of the venom into the tissues of living animals.^
» Brainard's antidote — lod. potass, grs. sxx; iodine grs. x; water gj.
° In tlie following work by M. Bernard: Lecons sur les Proprietes Physiologiques, et les Alterations
Pathologiques des Liquides de I'Orgauisme, vol. ii. p. 242, he says: "Ainsi on a dit d'abord, que la
presence du sulfocyanure de potassium dans la salive, rappelait les glands a venin des serpents vemineux."
OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 35
' Thus far we have only learned, from the preceding details, that the venom of
the Crotalus is an acid-fluid, abounding in albuminous matter, and yielding preci-
pitates, or coagula, with certain reagents.
It was highly probable, for various reasons, that the active element of the venom
was to be sought in the albuminoid compound just referred to. Accordingly, the
greatest attention was paid to this substance, and at every step in the analysis
the coagula and filtered solutions were studied toxicologically, as well as chemically.
Prince Charles Lucien Bonaparte has given us the only analysis of a snake venom
with which I am acquainted ; it is that of the viper. I have been unfortunate in
not having had access to the original Essay of this observer, and have been forced
to content myself with such analyses of his paper as are to be found in the sys-
tematic works on poisons, and in one of M. Bernard's recent volumes.^ Thus
aided, I have partially followed M. Bonaparte's method of analysis; but have found
it insufficient for the thorough examination of rattlesnake venom.
The observations and analyses which I have thus introduced, were conducted in
the following manner : —
1st. Ten or twelve, drops of pure Crotalus venom were secured, as usual. Of
this, a minute amount was employed as a toxicological test of the activity of the
specimen about to be studied.
2d. The remainder of the venom was mixed with two drachms of cold water, and
thoroughly boiled for five or ten minutes. A dense coagulum took place, and settled
quickly, leaving above it a pearl-colored fluid, free from sedimentary matter. On
shaking the test-tube, so as to mingle the coagulum and the supernatant fluid, and
then injecting one-half into the breast tissues of a pigeon, it was found that the
mixture proved speedily fatal. Boiling had not destroyed its power.
3d. The remaining half of the mixture (coagulum and fluid), was cast on a
small filter, and when the pearly fluid had passed through, the coagulum which
remained was carefully washed, drop by drop, with cold water. On the filter was
finally left the white coagulum, thoroughly washed ; in the filtrate were all the
parts of the venom which could be dissolved either in cold or boiling water.
4 th. The toxicological test was now introduced, to decide whether the poisoning
activity lay in the clot formed by heat, or in the separated fluid. Upon numerous
repetitions of this observation, it invariably happened that the coagulum was inno-
cent, and that the pearly supernatant fluid, with the washings of the coagulum,
was a deadly poison. The experiments were made as usual, by injecting the venom
into the breast or leg tissues of healthy pigeons.
5th. As I was aware that alcohol threw down all of the albuminoid elements of
venom, it occurred to me that it might also precipitate from the boiled venom the
material which appeared to escape the coagulating influence of the heat. Accord-
ingly, a considerable quantity of venom, about fifteen drops, was boiled, in half an
ounce of water. When the coagulum settled, the opalescent supernatant liquid was
decanted with care, the coagulum washed on a filter, and the washings mixed with
• Orfila, Toxicologie Generale, Art. Vipere. Bernard CI. Legons sur les Effets des Substances tosiqiies
et medieamenteuses. Paris, 1857, p. 393. Nysten, Diet, de Medecine, Art. Echidnine.
36 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
the liquid. To this was now added a small amount of alcohol of 95 per cent. A
cloud of a white and granular character was immediatelj^ seen at the line where the
alcohol and water met. Upon this an ounce and a half of the alcohol was added,
when the fluid clouded throughout, and a white precipitate soon settled to the bot-
tom. The supernatant alcohol and water being poured off and carefully evapo-
rated at a temperature of 100° F., was examined toxicologically as usual. The
evaporation was, of course, carried nearly to dryness, so as to avoid the risk of
killing the bird with alcohol. No poisonous results were observed, except in two
cases, where the alcohol originally used proved to have been diluted with water,
and to have acted as a partial solvent for the active material. It is necessary, on
this account, to employ the strongest alcohol.
6th. The precipitate caused by the alcohol was washed repeatedly with succes-
sive portions of that fluid, and allowed to settle. Then the last alcohol used to
wash it was removed by pipette, and the precipitate spread on a plate to dry. On
testing it toxicologically, it was found to be actively poisonous, giving rise, even
when employed in minute amount, to all the local and general phenomena of Cro-
talus poisoning.
The material thus obtained, was of a pale yellowish tint when dried, and was
perfectly neutral in reaction. It dissolved readily enough in water, cold or hot,
and its aqueous solutions were troubled by alcohol. Its nitrogenous nature was
established by its reaction with Millon's test of nitrate of mercury, and with the
cupro-potassa test. As it appeared to me to be the active toxicological element of
the venom, I propose to distinguish it by the name of Crotaline.
It seemed from the statements of those who quote Prince Bonaparte's method of
analysis of viper-poison that he procured the essential principle, which he termed
ecliidnine, or viperine, in the following manner : The venom was treated with an
excess of alcohol, and filtered ; the residue on the filter being well washed with
fresh portions of alcohol. The alcoholic solution was evaporated to dryness, and
found to contain a coloring matter, and a small amount of an undetermined sub-
stance, which, of course, was soluble in alcohol. The coagulum was next washed,
drop by drop, with cold water, so as to dissolve the echidnine, and leave the
"mucosine," become now insoluble from the influence of the alcohol. The echid-
nine was separated from the aqueous solution by evaporation. In all essential
particulars, Echidnine and crotaline are alike. Upon repeating and varying M.
Bonaparte's method of analysis, I found, however, some discrepancy of results.
Thus, if to the venom of the Crotalus an excess of alcohol be added, a large
precipitate occurs. In some instances, all of this precipitate was soluble in water ;
in other cases, a small proportion remained undissolved, behaving as ov-albumen
would do after being coagulated by alcohol. Generally, as I have said, the bulk
of the alcohol precipitate was soluble in water. The aqueous solution thus ob-
tained could be coagulated by boiling, so as to throw down a harmless precipitate,
and to leave above it a fluid still actively venomous, but representing in its dis-
solved albuminoid substance but a small part of the nitrogenous precipitate caused
by the alcohol in the first instance. In other words, the aqueous solution of the
alcoholic precipitate behaved in the presence of heat exactly like the diluted venom
itself.
OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 37
On reviewing these facts, it appears that in Crotalus venom, 1st, alcohol precipi-
tates all the albuminoid material, innocent, as well as poisonous. 2a. That heat
throws down from diluted venom the bulk of these albuminous compounds in an
insoluble and harmless form, and that the residual water still contains an albumi-
noid body uncoagulable by heat, but precipitable by alcohol, and of great poisonous
activity.
Now, the yield of crotaline from the plan first mentioned, and that of M. Bona-
parte, is very different. So much larger is the quantity obtained by the latter
means, that I cannot help suspecting that, besides seizing on the active principle,
the water also takes up from the alcoholic precipitate a certain quantity of albumi-
nous material which is quite innocent, and can only be coagulated by a heat of
160° and upwards.
Besides the two albuminoid bodies, whose presence in venom I have thus made
probable, there is also at times a little nitrogenous matter which behaves like the
ordinary egg albumen.
The ether washings of dried venom I found to contain now and then a little oil,
which was only to be detected under the microscope. As in M. Bonaparte's
analysis, when the alcoholic solution was evaporated, it was found to contain a
small quantity of uncrystalline flakes of some unknown body, tinged yellow, and
dotted here and there with specks of a deeper hue.
Besides these elements, we have also a small amount of saline constituents, pro-
bably chlorides and phosphates of alkalies. The determination of these bodies
seemed to be of no great moment in the present case, and I have therefore failed
to study them with minute attention.
We have thus far determined that the venom of the Eattlesnake is composed of —
1. An albuminoid body. Crotaline, not coagulable by heat of 212°.
2. An albuminoid compound coagulable by a temperature of 212° F.
3. A coloring matter, and an undetermined substance, both soluble in alcohol.
4. A trace of fatty matter.
5. Salts, chlorides, and phosphates.
At this period of our investigation it would be interesting to compare the venom
more carefully with the ordinary salivary fluids, a step which is rendered necessary
by the fact that De Blainville and others have considered the venom gland as the
analogue of the parotid, and the venom as only a peculiar salivary fluid.
Before we carry on such a comparison, it is necessary to state the results of a
number of experiments and observations, which, while they aid us in elucidating
the present branch of our subject, have also an important bearing upon the
question of the true character of the poison of the venom. We shall proceed,
therefore, to the statement of the observations in question, and afterwards to the
discussion of the claims of the poison gland and its secretion, to the titles of salivary
gland and saliva.
If the poison gland is a salivary gland at all, it is, of course, from its anatomical
relations a parotid gland, and its secretion is comparable only with the parotid
secretion. In the lack of information as to the nature of this saliva in serpents
generally, we can only compare the venom with the parotid saliva of the horse,
38 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
dog, and mau, a circumstance which necessai'ily impairs the interest and value of
this particuhir branch of our subject.
Since the discovery by Leuchs, of the power of saliva to convert boiled starch
into grape sugar, observers have been undecided as to whether or not pure parotid
saliva possesses this power. The weight of authority at present is undoubtedly
against it, but in the absence of any positive decision, I have conceived it neces-
sary to learn whether or not the supposed venom saliva had this faculty.
Exioeriment. — In three test tubes of the same size, was placed an equal amount
of boiled starch-water, in which I had failed to detect the presence of grape sugar.
To the first of these were added three drops of pure venom. To the second were
added three or four drops of mixed saliva from my own mouth. The third was
left without any addition, and all were exposed to a temperature of 78° F.
No. I. Venom and starch-water was examined at intervals, but gave no re-
action with the cupro-potassa test until forty-eight hours had elapsed, when sugar
was found to be present, but not in large amount.
No. II. Starch-water and saliva contained sugar at the close of half an hour.
Within three hours the sugar was present in abundance.
No. III. Starch-water alone exhibited no traces of sugar until forty-eight hours
had elapsed, when it was to be detected, although present in no large quantity.
In a second series of experiments, results so nearly similar were obtained, that
it is needless to relate them here.
Since it has been asserted by Wright, that acid saliva does not possess the same
converting power as the ordinary alkaline fluid, and as the venom saliva was con-
stantly acid, I repeated the experiments with the following modification.
Experiment. — In two test tubes was placed about half an ounce of thin stai'ch-
water. To the first were added four drops of venom, which I had rather more than
neutralized with potassa.
The second I left without this addition, and exposed them both to a temperature
of from 77° to 87° F. At the close of twenty-four hours, neither of them exhibited
any traces of sugar, but after twenty-eight hours, sugar was present in the venom
tube and not in the other. These experiments were also repeated on subsequent
occasions with like results.
I conceive that we have a right to infer that the venom has no peculiar power
to convert boiled stai'ch into grape sugar, and is, in this respect, almost absolutely
inactive.
My next observations were directed towards ascertaining whether the venom
gland, like the ordinary salivary glands, would yield to water its active principles,
and so give rise to infusions, in each case, resembling the saliva of the respective
glands. Thus, since M. Bernard's researches, it is well known that an infusion of
the submaxillary or parotid glands has all the properties of the normal saliva of
these organs. According to this author, the solid matters of the various salivas
are constantly deposited in the glands, and are rapidly washed out of them by a
flow of thin solvent fluid from the bloodvessels, at such times as the secretion
may be needed. If, now, the solid matter of the venom be in like manner a con-
stant portion of the bulk of the gland, it was to be presumed that an infusion of
OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 39
the gland tissues would afford a considerable amount of venomous fluid, manufac-
tured, as it were, artificially.
This question divides itself naturally into two queries : —
1st. Is the gland tissue poisonous?
2d. Are infusions of the gland tissue poisonous ?
At first sight, nothing seems easier than to answer these questions, by inoculat-
ing animals with infusions of the gland, or portions of its tissue. On direct expe-
riment, sources of fallacy at once appeared. The first of these was due to the
difficulty of clearing the gland of poison already contained in it, in the form of
venom, filling its smaller ducts. Supposing us to have eliminated this element of
doubt, and to have ready a gland tissue washed clear of its actual secretions, if
we should have in its secernent cells but a small amount of poison, it may not act
upon a large animal. On the other hand, if a very small animal be employed, the
reagent may prove too delicate a test, and the animal die from a mere trace of the
venom remaining in the ducts, or even of the operation required to insert a whole
venom gland under its skin.
Experiment. — A large Crotalus, fifty-three inches long, was secured as usual, and
four drops of venom obtained from it. It was then replaced in its box, supplied
with a bath, and not disturbed during five days, after which an attempt was made
to rob it of the poison formed in the interval. It yielded but one drop, although
it struck several times at the collecting vessel. Seeing this, and knowing, from
previous experience, that it might be retaining its venom, I placed within its jaws
a pigeon's thigh, freed from its feathers. The serpent bit fiercely, the animal dying
in twenty-nine minutes. A second pigeon having been plucked, so as to expose
the breast, the snake was allowed to bite it three times. It died stupefied, at the
close of an hour.
A third pigeon was next arranged, so as to be bitten four times about the breast.
The snake, by this time, was very unwilling to use its fangs. The pigeon died in
two hours and a half. It is clear from these experiments, that in confinement at
least, the venom is formed but slowly, and that in the present case the gland was,
in all probability, well emptied of its juices. The snake's neck was next severed
about two inches below the head, and the glaiids of both sides rapidly removed.
The ducts were cut away near to the gland, the gland tissue pressed between
two slips of board, and finally washed by repeated injections, and subsequent com-
pression, until at length the returning fluid brought away with it no sediment.
The whole of one gland was then minced up with twenty-five drops of water, and
introduced under the skin of the breast of a pigeon. None of the usual local or
general evidences of Crotalus poisoning followed, and within fifty hours the wound
looked dry and healthy. After this time, an extensive slough took place above
the site of the gland. As the previous signs and appearances did not warrant the
idea that any poisoning could have taken place, I made several experiments to
learn how far the skin of the pigeon can be separated from subjacent tissues, with-
out endangering its vitality. These observations soon taught me that any foreign
tissue which raised the pigeon's skin for a circumference of more than three or four
lines, was apt to occasion a slough.
40 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
Expe)-ime7it. — In this experiment, I prepared a large gland, as above described,
and inserted it in seven localities about the body, back, and legs of a pigeon.
Around two of these, on the back, a little darkening was visible, and one of them
sloughed after several days.
Exjpertment. — A snake thirty inches long was properly secured, a pigeon arranged
as usual, and placed within reach. The snake bit it on the neck, where a local
discoloration showed itself at once. On further provocation, by pinching its tail,
it bit the pigeon several times, until, as I supposed, the venom was exhausted. As
the snake had been used to kill a rabbit five days before, I presume the quantity
of venom not to have been large, nor, indeed, could it have been so, as the pigeon
did not die for forty minutes. The snake's head was next cut off. Placed on a
plate, it bit eagerly, but threw out no venom, even when I galvanized the anterior
temporal muscle after removing the cuticle.
Both of the venom glands were removed, squeezed thoroughly, divided length-
wise and across, and repeatedly wiped with a soft towel. Twelve drops of water
were then added, and both glands hashed up with it, a drop or two being added as
it dried. The temperature was that of the air, 75° F. At the close of thirty-five
minutes, I carefully removed all the fluid with a pipette, and injected it under the
breast-skin, and into the muscles of a pigeoia. Five hours later, the bird was well,
and the wound quite dry. Eighteen hours after inoculation, it yielded, upon pres-
sure, a little serous fluid, and around the part, infiltrated with the artificial secre-
tion, there was a slight darkening of the skin, whether due to the presence of a
small amount of poison, and the consequent extravasation, or to my having
wounded small vessels, I am unable to say. Certainly, no other evidences of
poison were noted, and the wound healed after a little serous oozing. No slough
took place.
Experiment. — The gland tissue employed in the last observation, was dried by
frequent wiping, and being minutely divided, was put under the skin of a rabbit's
back. The animal had no constitutional disturbance as a consequence, and was
sacrificed after five days to another purpose. A small abscess had formed around
the foreign tissues, and was making its way outwards. No extravasation was
visible.
Experiment. — On another occasion, an infusion of two small glands from a snake
twenty-nine and a half inches long, was used upon a rabbit, without effect visible
to the eye. The fluid seemed to have been absorbed without local or general injury
to the animal.
Experiment. — The whole tissue of the glands just mentioned was finally minced,
bruised, dried in bibulous paper, and carefully introduced under the skin of a
pigeon's breast, by pushing in a small tube laterally, and through this distributing
the crushed gland tissue as the tube was withdrawn. In this way, the inoculation
was effected without much separation of the skin from the parts beneath. In
despite of this precaution, extensive inflammation ensued, and a large slough of
skin took place, the tissues about the wound becoming infiltrated with serum. No
local or general symptoms of poisoning were noted, but the bird sank, became
thin, refused food, and died at the close of eight days.
OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 41
It was evident from these experiments that, for some reason, the gland and its
infusions were less virulent than had been anticipated. Eeflecting upon the great
relative size of the gland, and upon the minute amount of secretion elaborated by
it, it seemed to me possible that the quantity of gland matter stored up for its
production, might also be but small, and that if this were so, the pigeon might
not suffice as a test of its existence. The following experiments were the result
of this view.
Experiment. — A large snake, weighing four pounds, and measuring three feet eight
inches, was secured, and allowed to bite a reed-bird, which died within one minute,
exhibiting both local and general symptoms. The snake was then teazed until it
struck, and threw out a drop or two of poison from each gland, after which its head
was cut off, the ducts divided, and the gland thoroughly emptied by pressure. It.
was then finely divided as usual, washed, and dried in bibulous paper. Thus
prepared, the gland was considered to be free from any poison which might have
been already secreted in a fluid form, and was treated with twenty-five drops of
water, and kept at a temperature of 90° F. for thirty minutes, during which time
it was frequently stirred, and compressed with a small pestle, while the water was
renewed as it evaporated. The whole of the fluid was next drawn up into a fine
tube, and carefully injected under the skin of the breast of a reed-bird. After
four hours and twenty minutes, the bird was seen to be weak, but the local signs
were of uncertain value. Twenty-one hours after poisoning, the bird was found
dead. Its muscles were firm, the blood dark and loosely coagulated.
Experiment. — The remnant of gland tissue was put under the skin of a reed-
bird, one portion being placed in the breast, another in the thigh. This bird died
within twenty-one hours, and in it, also, the symptoms of local poisoning were
deficient. The blood was even better coagulated than in the last case.
Experiment. — A snake of middle size (about two and a half feet long) was made
to employ its glands, and was then decollated, the glands extracted, divided, and
washed as usual. Ten drops of water were mixed with the tissue of this gland,
and being placed in a test-tube, it was left at a temperature of 85° F. for two hours.
The fluid was then drained from the gland, and injected into the thigh of a reed-
bird. In two hours and four minutes the bird was becoming weak, and the extra-
vasation of blood — which is the most marked symptom of Crotalus poisoning — was
sufficiently distinct. Two hours later, the bird was rocking on its feet, and the
extravasation was larger. It died during the following night. On examination,
the muscles about the wound were softened, and even decomposing, and the blood
was chiefly uncoagulated with an occasional clot of minute size and loose texture.
Experiment. — The remnant of gland used in the last observation was again
treated with ten drops of water, which became slightly milky in hue on being
agitated, and incorporated with the bruised tissue. After half an hour it was
finally drained from the gland, and injected as usual under the breast skin of a
reed-bird; proper precaution being always observed to avoid raising the skin too
much. Within two hours and ten minutes the bird was weak, and the breast
tissues contained a little extravasated blood. One hour and ten minutes later, the
local symptoms were unaltered, and the bird weaker. It died during the ensuing
6
42 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
niglit. Its wounds were slightly tinted with effused blood; but the muscles were
not softened to the same extent as in the last case, nor were they at all decom-
posed. The blood of this bird was imperfectly coagulated.
Upon considering the foregoing experiments, it will be seen that all the pigeons
escaped but one, that the rabbit was also unhurt, and that the reed-birds all died.
These little birds are, however, uncommonly hardy, and, as we shall see in future,
do not succumb readily when mechanically injured. Again, when, at this period,
1 subjected other reed-birds, to the number of ten, to similar wounds, and injected
these with water and infusions of fresh muscle, only two out of the ten died.
It is difficult, therefore, to avoid the belief that the reed-birds which received in
their tissues the minced gland and its infusions, really perished from the rattle-
snake poison; a belief which, on the whole, was strengthened by the state of their
blood and muscles, and by the local signs which some of them exhibited. It is
also to be observed that the reed-bird is remarkably susceptible to Crotalus venom,
and will frequently die from a quantity of poison so minute that it would be hard
to conceive of its power to destroy life, until we had made the experiment. Thus,
while half a drop will often kill a reed-bird in a minute or two, one-eighth of a
drop will prove fatal after a lapse of from two to eight hours; so that it is probable
that even a smaller quantity would be found sufficient to destroy its existence.
Now, as it is possible that quantities so minute may escape any mode of separa-
tion, and thus may remain in the gland tissue until the final infusion is formed, or
even afterwards, we are not logically called upon to infer from the last series of
experiments, that the material for a sudden temporary supply of venom-saliva is
stored- away in the gland in a semi-solid state. In this respect, therefore, the
venom secretion is probably unlike saliva.
Again, unlike saliva, venom is formed slowly, and thence we have some right
to infer that those provisions for rapid secretion, which belong to the salivary
glands of man or the dog, need not exist in the poison gland of the serpent, and
this view is certainly fortified, upon the whole, by the genei'al result of the experi-
ments above detailed.
In despite of what has here been urged, it is still desirable that these experi-
ments should be repeated, with every possible modification; since, as I have
endeavored to show, this, like all other portions of our subject, is girt about with
such difficulties as may well baffle the most careful.
We have now to ascertain how much right the venom gland has to be regarded
as a salivary organ, analogous to the parotid gland.
The argument from anatomy alone would certainly teach us to respect this view
as correct, and to consider the poison gland as a true salivary organ. Its position
and general structure all favor this idea, just as the appearance and minute
anatomy of the pancreas were once believed to authorize us in placing that organ
among the salivary bodies, and in giving to it the name of the abdominal salivary
gland. But in this case, as in the one before us, the broader light of physiological
inquiry has revealed the truth, that anatomical resemblance, even to the minutest
details, does not of necessity involve physiological likeness. When, therefore, we
turn from the anatomy of the poison gland to examine it under other points of
OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 43
view, we learn that in Crotalus its secretion is constantly acid, and in the Viper
neutral, while the saliva of the parotid in all animals yet examined is as unchange-
ably alkaline. Again, while saliva is a secretion of rapid formation, and appro-
priated to specific mechanical and chemical purposes within the economy, the
venom fluid is slowly elaborated, slowly reproduced when lost, and destined to no
end within the body which produces it. Lastly, its singular nature as a ferment,
poisonous to other animals as well as to its owner, constitutes a distinction, which,
with the other points of difference already considered, forbid the physiologist to
regard it as, in any true sense, a salivary secretion, or its forming organ as a sali-
vary gland.
Effect of Various Temperatures on the Activity of Venom. — When I contemplated a
series of researches upon the antidotes to Crotalus poisoning, I planned and executed
a large number of experiments directed towards increasing our knowledge of the
influence of physical and chemical agents upon the noxious properties of venom.
Some of these researches were modified repetitions of work already done by others,
but the majority were novel, and appear to me to cast considerable light upon the
subject.
Especially do they clear the ground for more just conceptions of the real value
and therapeutic possibilities of antidotes. Without them, also, no fitting idea of
the singular energy of this poison could be formed, nor should we be able to con-
ceive of the tenacity with which its powers are preserved in the presence of violent
chemical reagents and extremes of heat and cold.
I was well aware that the dried venom retained its potency after two years of
climatic changes, and that even the fresh poison, although prone to partial decom-
position, might also remain active, after a sojourn of several weeks in an atmo-
sphere of 65° to 70° P.
In the experiments upon the influence of extreme temperatures, I was obliged
to resort to the following means : —
First. I established the fact that dilution did not injure the venom; and next,
that minute quantities, as one-eighth or one-half of a drop, were fatal to the reed-
bird within a few hours, more or less. As it was impossible to use large amounts
of venom, owing to the economy with which I was forced to employ it, I arranged
a tube of such size, that a marked half inch held one drop of a mixture made by
adding four drops of water to one of the venom.
Experiment. — The marked tube was drawn to a capillary point, and a little venom
sucked up into it, and so manipulated as to leave in the tube one drop of the mix-
ture, representing one-fifth of a drop of venom. By very gentle suction, this was
next drawn two inches up the tube, and the capillary point below, closed in the
blowpipe flame.
Thus prepared, the tube was plunged in a freezing mixture, and kept at a tempera-
ture 3° to 4° above zero P. At the close of half an hour, the tube was placed in
water at 70° F., and when the contents became fluid, the point of the tube was
broken off, and the venom ejected into the breast tissues of a reed-bird, which died
convulsed in twenty-seven minutes. Two repetitions of this experiment gave no
different result.
44
PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
The same little apparatus was also employed in the following experiments on
the effects of heat on the venom. In each case the tube was charged, sealed at
one end, and placed in water of the required temperature. In sustaining the
standard of heat, it occasionally happened that the temperature rose one or two
degrees too high, but this in no way affected the general result or its value.
When the higher temperatures were used, the finger was sometimes placed on the
open end of the tube, both to prevent the bubble of air below the venom from en-
larging in the heat so as to expel the fluid above it, and also for the purpose of
limiting evaporation.
The results attained are expressed in the following table : —
TIME OF EXPOSURE IN ALL THE CASES TWENTY OR THIRTY MINUTES.
Amount of Vekom one-foukth to one-eishth of a Deop.
No.
Temperature.
Visible effects on the venom.
Result when injected into the breast of reed-birds.
1
112° F.
Kone
( Killed in 35 minutes. Convulsions and marked
\ local phenomena.
2
120° F.
None
Death in 21 minutes, convulsions, local signs.
8
130° to 134° F.
None
Death in 39 " " "
4
140° to 142° F.
None
Death in 45 " " " "
5
f (i drop of venom)
I 148° to 151° F.
Slight coagulation )^
took place. J
Death in 43 " " " "
6
180° to 184° F.
Coagulation
Death in 48 " " " "
1
212° F.
Dense coagulation
Death in 2 hours. No convulsions or local signs.
6
212° F.
« ii
No malady, except marked feebleness for 2 or 3 hours.
9
212° F.
ti It
( The bird became weak in 20 minutes, and breathed
10
212° F.
< laboriously for a time, but finally recovered.
( Slight and doubtful local signs.
The results exhibited in the table seemed to show that, while freezing did not
alter the powers of the venom, it lost its toxicological vitality at a temperature of
212° F.
Upon re-examining this question at a later date, and with larger quantities of
venom, I came to the conclusion that I had been mistaken, and that the most pro-
longed boiling was inadequate to destroy the virulence of the venom. The error
into which I previously fell was due to the following causes : —
I have shown that after boiling, the active portions of the poison were the super-
natant fluids, and not the coagulum. Now, when the amount employed was small,
and the boiling was conducted in tubes of moderate calibre, the quantity of fluid
surrounding the coagulum was in proportion minute. The larger part of it, there-
fore, clung to the tube, and was practically lost. That which adhered to the pre-
cipitate proved insufiicient, in most cases, to destroy life, although some of the ani-
mals suffered from its use.
In August, 1860, a year after the first examination of this point, I carefully
studied it anew. Not less than four drops of venom were employed in each case,
and the process of boihng was varied in duration, so that in some cases it was
continued for five minutes, in others for half an hour or more. Thus prepared, the
OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 45
coagulum and the supernatant fluid were thrown into the tissues of full-grown
pigeons. Of six thus treated, all died with the usual symptoms.
In a second series of experiments, to which I have already alluded (see chemistry
of the venom), the coagulum and supernatant fluid were separated by filtration j
the coagulum washed, and the two products injected separately into two pigeons.
In eight experiments of this kind it was found that the coagulum by heat was
always innocent, the fluid as uniformly poisonous. It is unnecessary to relate
these cases in detail, but it was further observed that the fatal cases died with the
usual rapidity, a fact which permits us to suspect that the venom loses no power
by being heated, and that the albuminoid compound, which constituted the coagu-
lum, was not poisonous before its condition was altered by elevation of temperature.
We thus arrive at the conclusion that the venom of the Crotalus is toxically
unaltered by freezing or boiling, and of course by the intermediate temperatures
to which it may be subjected.
It is not a little curious that the animals which perished from the injection of
boiled venom exhibited very trifling local evidences of the action of the poison. I
am unable to oflfer any plausible explanation of this curious deficiency.
Influence of Certain Chemical Agents on the Activity of Venom. — In the following
observations upon the influence of chemical agents on the activity of the Crotalus
poison, certain necessary precautions were carefully attended to, without which
the results attained would have been of but trifling value. Thus, for example,
in using strong acids, alkalies, etc., it was necessary to make sure that the caustic
action of these substances did not prove fatal to animals as small as the reed-bird.
This end was obtained by carefully neutralizing the substances employed, after
they had been allowed to affect the venom for a time. Where this could not be
done, as with alcohol, etc., the result was checked or tested by experimenting with
the substance alone, free from the presence of the venom.
It will be sufficient to give detailed accounts of some of these experiments, and
to state merely the results of the remainder; since the precautions employed were
similar in all the cases.
Alcohol. — I cannot find that Fontana actually mixed this fluid with venom, and
then essayed its powers, with the object of ascertaining to what extent they were
modified. Dr. Brainard^ was probably the first to make this direct observation,
not only with alcohol, but also with oil of turpentine, and the solutions of nitrate
of silver, ammonia, soda, and potassa". He found that the mixture of these agents
with venom did not alter or delay its action, provided the reagents were not of
caustic strength.
ExiJeriment. — The venom to be used having been previously tested and found to
be potent, two drops of it were treated with twenty-five drops of alcohol. A dense
coagulum formed, and at the close of ten minutes the mixture was injected into
the breast tissues of a pigeon, which died, with slight local signs of poisoning, at
the close of thirty-seven minutes. A check experiment was made at the same
time, to learn how much the amount of alcohol used (twenty-five drops) would
^ Smithsonian Report, 1854, p. 133.
46 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
aflfect the pigeon when injected alone. It ajDpeared to cause slight stupefaction,
which passed off rapidly.
Experiment. — About one-third of a drop of venom was treated with a drachm of
alcohol. The mixture, which was allowed to evaporate to about seven drop's, was
placed under the skin of a reed-bird. It died in twelve minutes. When eight
drops of alcohol were used alone, the bird was a good deal stupefied for two hours,
but no serious result was observable.
Experiment. — About one-half of a drop of venom was mixed with about one
drachm of alcohol, and kept four weeks. The precipitate at the bottom was then
collected into a pipette, dried, redissolved in water, and thrown under the breast
skin of a reed-bird. Slight local evidence of poisoning was visible, but the bird
died within nine hours; an unusually long period. A repetition of this experiment
gave a more sudden result, the bird dying in two hours.
A great number of observations similar to those just related convinced me that
mere mixture with alcohol did not render the venom innocent.
As it appeared from Dr. Brainard's experiments, that in mingling the venom
with active reagents, he had used these in a diluted state, I made a number of
observations to learn whether or not these agents would affect the potency of the
poison when allowed to act on it without previous dilution.
Experiment. — About one-third of a drop of pure venom was put upon a glass
slide, and three drops of strong nitric acid were dropped upon it. Coagulation
occurred, and in twelve minutes the acid was neutralized with liq. potass^, and
the mixture injected in three places into the breast and thigh of a reed-bird, which
died in three hours. The wound was red, and not dark as usual, a fact which may
have been owing to the presence of the nitrate of potassa. This observation was
repeated twice with like results.
Similar experiments were made with strong sulphuric and muriatic acid, and
with ammonia, chlorine-water, iodine, soda, and potassa. None of these agents
destroyed the virulence of the venom. It is to be observed that in each case the
contact was preserved during several minutes, and that the substances employed
were neutralized before making the several injections.^
* When venom was mingled witli certain of these agents, such as iodine in solution, tannic acid, etc.,
and then injected, the constitutional symptoms declared .themselves as usual in the pigeons employed,
but the local phenomena were more or less wanting. With this latter fact Dr. Brainard has made us
acquainted, so far as iodine is concerned.
OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 47
CHAP TEE V.
TOXICOLOGY OP THE VENOM OF THE CROTALUS.
The strange and subtle poison which we have hitherto considered chemically,
will hereafter claina our attention in its relations to animal and vegetable life. In
the course of study thus laid down, we shall be called upon to examine, first, its
influence upon the lower vegetable existences. Secondly, its power to affect higher
vegetable organisms, and the germination of seeds. Thirdly, its activity with
relation to the lower animals ; and, fourthly, the influence of the venom upon the
mammalia, such as the dog, and, finally, man himself.
The subject of the power of serpent venom to destroy vegetable life has attracted
the notice of but two, among the many observers who have studied the poison of
Indian, European, or American reptiles. Neither of the observers alluded to
has investigated the matter very fully, and I have, therefore, endeavored to fill
the void thus left, as completely as possible.
Before I proceed to detail my own results, it will be proper to state, briefly, the
conclusions at which others have arrived.^
Dr. Gilman says : " During the process of robbing several species of serpents (of
venom), I inoculated several small, but vigorous and perfectly healthy vegetables
with the point of a lancet well charged with venom. The next day they were
withered and dead, looking as though they had been scathed with lightning."
The experiments thus described are so very limited, and so wanting in state-
ment of details, that it is diflQcult to accord to them any great value as scientific
evidence. Even in so trifling a matter as this, the sources of error are numerous,
and we have a right to demand every possible knowledge as to the temperature
and season, the size of the plants, the amount of venom employed, and the effect of
wounding similar plants to the same extent, but without the use of the venom.^
» On the Venom of Serpents, B. J. Gilman, A. M. M. D., LL. D., St. Louis Med. and Surg. Journal,
1854, p. 25.
» An amusing story, whicli passed through three persons, reached the Philosophical Transactions (vol.
sxxviii. p. 321) in the following form : " Sir Hans Sloan learned from Col. Beverley (Hist, of Va., 2d
ed. p. 260) that Col. James Taylor, of Metapony, had stated to him that, having found a Rattlesnake,
they cut off his head, with three inches of his body. A green stick, the bark being peeled off, was put
to the head. It bit it, when small green streaks were observed to rise up along the stick towards the
hand. At this juncture, the Colonel wisely dropped the stick, which, in a quarter of an hour, of its own
accord, split into several pieces, and fell asunder from end to end."
48 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
The only remaining authority upon this portion of our subject, is Dr. Salisbury.^
A large female rattlesnake, without food for a year, died, and on dissection its
poison ducts supplied Dr. Salisbury with a small amount of venom. This was
used on plants, without having been tested upon animals.
" About fifteen minutes after its removal, four young shoots of the lilac {Syringa
vulgaris), a small horse-chestnut of one year's growth {CEsculus liippocastanum) , a
corn plant {Zea mays), a sun-flower plant [Helianthus annuus), and a wild cucumber
vine, were severally vaccinated with it. The vaccination was performed by dip-
ping the point of a penknife into the poisonous matter, and then inserting it into
the plant, just beneath the inner bark. No visible effect from the poison was
perceptible until about sixty hours after it had been inserted. At this time, the
leaves above the wound, in each case, began to wilt. The bark in the vicinity of
the incision exhibited scarcely a perceptible change ; in fact, it would have been
diflScult to have found the points, had they not been marked when the poison was
inserted.
" Ninety-six hours after the operations, nearly all the leaf-blades in each of the
plants, above the wounded part, were wilted, and apparently quite dead. On the
fifth day, the jDctioles and bark above the incisions began to lose their freshness, and
on the sixth day they were considerably withered. On the tenth day, they began
to show slight signs of recovery. On the fifteenth, new but sickly-appearing leaves
began to show themselves on the lilacs, and the other plants began to show slight
signs of recovery in the same way. Neither of the plants was entirely deprived
of life."
Dr. Salisbury afterwards comments upon the fact of the edges and apices of the
leaves being the parts first attacked. He also states that the leaves below the
points of innoculation were altogether unaffected, while those on the side upon
which the venom was inserted were the first to suffer.
These experiments were made in June.
An objection to the want of a precedent test experiment upon animals as to the
virulency of the poison used has been above suggested. This objection, it is true,
loses some weight in the presence of a positive result. I have mentioned it, how-
ever, because it was possible that the secretion of the snake in question might have
been altogether harmless, and the apparent results upon the plants only the effect
of a mechanical injury to their tissues. This very result occurred to me during
the summer of 1S59.
A large snake, neai'ly five feet long, was sent to me from Iowa. It came in a
very small, flat box, and was so coiled that it must have been difficult for it to
move. When I removed it from its confinement it was sluggish, and was only
induced to bite upon being much irritated. During the month of July the snake
made no use of the bath in its cage; and, like the rest, took no food, nor did I feed it
as I did some of its companions. A week before its death, there is a record on my
notes of its having bitten a pigeon, which recovered in spite of a deep wound from
^ Influence of the Poison of the Northern Rattlesnake (Crotalus durissns) on Plants. By J. H.
Salisbury, M. D., N. Y. Journ. of Med., vol. xiii. New Series, 1854, p. 337.
OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 49
one fang in the thigh. The snake was found dead on the seventh day after this
occurrence.
Upon careful dissection, I found that the venom gland and the ducts on the
right side, were full of a bloody fluid, with a faint alkaline reaction, and containing
an abundance of club-shaped epithelial cells. The gland on the left side was nearly
empty; its tissue was stained with blood. As I was curious to learn whether or
not the altered poison had lost its power, I collected all the fluid contents of both
glands, and their ducts, and inoculated with them the back, breast, and thigh of
a pigeon, inserting in all about nine drops. The pigeon was slightly affected after
the lapse of an hour, and was disposed to seek a corner and sleep. Four hours
later, however, it was seemingly none the worse for the operation. A small oozing
of serum took place from one of the wounds in the back, some days afterwards, but .
the pigeon suffered no permanent injury.
This result was enough to convince me that disease might alter the secretion of
the venom glands, as it sometimes does that of the human salivary glands. I have
alluded to it hei'e, in order to fortify my criticism upon Dr. Salisbury's experiments.
It is further to be observed, that Dr. Salisbury did not make any comparative
observations, by wounding in a nearly similar manner, but with a clean weapon,
plants of the same species and of equal size.
Beyond the points alluded to, there seems to be no objection to the experiments
of Dr. Salisbury. He certainly appears to have been entirely successful in poison-
ing plants, with Crotalus venom; since, of eight plants injected, each and all seem
to have suffered the same changes.
I have been the more willing to quote these results in full, because my own
efforts to afiect plants in the same way were singularly unfortunate. The point
on which our experiments admit of no comparison is in regard to the species of the
plant employed. At the season when I made my researches upon plant poisoning,
I was unable to obtain the same plants as were used by Dr. Salisbury.
My first experiments upon plant poisoning were incidental to an examination of
the power of Crotalus venom to prevent the occurrence of fermentation. After
ascertaining, as I have already stated, that the conversion of starch into grape
sugar was in no way interfered with when the venom was added to the mixture, I
proceeded to ascertain whether or not the vinous fermentation would also take
place in its presence.
Accordingly, a small amount of poison having been procured as usual, I found that
it was fatal to a reed-bird, and then proceeded to make the following experiment.
Experiment.— Two test tubes of equal size, and capable of holding about one and
a half ounces each, were fitted with corks, through which ran glass tubes, long
enough to reach to the bottom. At the lower end, the contained tubes were bent
at an acute angle, and drawn to a fine orifice. Above the cork they were also bent
so as to form a double U-curve external to the test glass. Each of the test glasses
was then filled with a solution of sugar in water, twenty grains of sugar being
placed in each apparatus. To No. 1 were added a few drops of yeast, and to No. 2
about the same amount of yeast, together with five drops of venom. Both test
tubes were next corked with care, so as to exclude any bubbles of air, and the
7
50 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
level to which the fluid rose in the tubes having been marked, they were finally
placed in an atmosphere of 75° F. Through accident the temperature was allowed
to rise to 128° F. It afterwards fell to 80° F., was kept at this during two hours
and a half, and was then abandoned to the atmospheric temperature, which varied
during the experiment from 69° to 77° F. Experiments previously made, con-
vinced me that the accidental rise of temperature would not be likely to injure the
venom. The action of the ferment was unusually slow, but at the end of forty-
eight hours both solutions had fermented, the test glasses were half full of carbonic
acid gas, and the fluid thus displaced had risen through the tubes and overflowed
externally.
Experiment. — On this occasion, I modified the process by leaving the ten drops
of yeast in contact with three drops of venom for two hours, at a temperature of
79° F. In all other respects, the experiment resembled that last described.
Within thirtj^-nine hours, both tubes had fermented freely. The remnant solu-
tions within the test-tubes contained an abundance of yeast fungus, and I was,
therefore, driven to the conclusion that the venom does not interfere with alcoholic
fermentation, nor with the accompanying growth of sporules.
The next observations upon the efiect of the venom on the lower vegetable
growths, were accidentally introduced to my notice. They appear to me to be
still more decisive than those last mentioned.
During the warm weather of August, I had mixed two or three drops of venom
with eight or ten of water, and left the mixture in a corked test-tube on my table.
It was neglected during two weeks, and when microscopically examined, was found
to contain a number of what I took to be the sporules of fungi. During the month
of September I repeated this observation upon some diluted poison which had been
left in a test-tube during three weeks. In this specimen, I found an abundance of
sporules.
As it was possible that the solution of venom might, by decomposing, have lost
its virulence, I tested it by inoculating with it the breasts of two reed-birds which
died with the usual local and general symptoms within two hours.
In passing to my experiments upon a higher order of plants, I began by using
dried venom about two years old, but, as my experiments upon animals will
show, of a potency only inferior to that of the freshest material.
Experiment. — During the month of June, 1859, four young shoots of tradescantia,
a very succulent and rather tender trailing plant, were selected for experiment.
Each of the shoots was split half way through, and about one-third of a grain of
dry, pulverized venom was dropped into the opening, which was then allowed to
close on the poison. The plants were next well watered, and a drop or two allowed
to -fall on the line of the incision. Four other shoots, two on the same, and two
on other plants, were similarly, or even more mutilated, and in all cases the shoots
chosen were from five to seven inches long. During a week, no result was ob-
tained from these experiments. After that period, two of the unvenomed shoots,
and one of the poisoned, became sickly, and gradually lost most of their leaves within
the ensuing fortnight. So complete a negative result forbade any definite conclu-
sions.
or THE VENOM OP THE RATTLESNAKE. 51
Later in the year, during the month of September, and early in October, I re-
peated these experiments upon the following plants, viz : —
A young shoot of the common bean, four inches high.
A young dahlia six inches high, and constituting the whole plant.
A long flower, or budding flower-stalk of medicinal colchicum, C. Autumnale,
about ten inches high.
Three branches of geranium, growing on a large and healthy plant.
A small succulent garden weed, three inches high, of a species unknown to me.
I had no duplicates of the dahlia, bean, and weed mentioned above, which I
could wound as a means of comparison, but in the case of the colchicum, I wounded,
without poisoning, the remaining flower-stalk, which was rather more fully in
bloom, and in the geraniums I wounded, in like manner, three branches, of sizes
about equal to those of the stalks which I both wounded and poisoned.
The mode of introducing the venom, which, in these cases was perfectly fresh,
and of tried and known potency, I varied in several ways. In the dahlia and col-
chicum I merely raised the outer bark longitudinally, and with a fine pipette slip-
ped one drop of venom into the opening. I then bent the stalk slightly, so that
the divided bark would rise a little from the surface beneath, and thus hold the
venom by capillary attraction.
The weed was inoculated by splitting it near to the earth, and inserting a full
drop of venom. The geranium branches were each surrounded by a little lip of
wax, within which I put from one to two drops of the venom, and then filled the
cups with four or five drops of water, having previously punctured the stems, so
as to place the incisions below the level of the poisoned water. The water was
renewed twice a day, and into one of the geranium branches I introduced, three
days later, about one-third of a drop of venom, just above the wax. The cups fell
off after four or five days, but neither in the bean, dahlia, colchicum, or geranium,
did the leaves die, or the plants in any way suffer, although they were watched
daily, during three weeks.
The weed alluded to was an accidental growth in the pot with the geranium.
It appeared to droop two days after the poisoning. This was due, I presume, to
a very cold night, after which the plants were carried into the house, when the
one in question very soon revived. In many successive efforts to poison other
plants with venom, I failed in every instance.
It is clear from the foregoing statements, that the venom of the Crotalus is not
fatal to the growth of the lower orders of vegetable existence; but, unfortu-
nately, no such definite inference can be drawn with regard to plants higher in the
scale. My own experience, it is true, would, if considered alone, entitle me to
assume the inactivity of Crotalus venom within the tissues of the plants essayed,
and this conclusion would gain value, also, from what we know of the mode of its
influence upon animals, and from the facts which we have made known as to the
power of some forms of vegetative life to defy its influence. But, in the face of
strong affirmative results, such as were obtained by Dr. Sahsbury, I am unwilling
to draw from my own negative experiments the same definite opinion which I
should otherwise have felt authorized to base upon them. As I was indisposed to
52 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
allow the question to remain without further answer, I made a number of experi-
ments upon the ability of seeds to germinate in the venom, hoping to obtain in this
manner a more complete solution of my doubts.
Here, owing to the circumstances of the experiment, the result may again be a
negative one, and may still be open to all the doubts which encumber negative results.
Experiment. — October 5th, 9 A. M. I placed in each of two short test-tubes
eight drops of water, and to one of them added one and a half drops of venom of
known activity. On both tubes, upon the surface of each of the fluids, I laid a
mesh of cotton wool, and upon it in each vessel fifteen canary seeds. The water
in the two tubes was kept always at the same level, by the daily addition of the
requisite amount of fluid. On the ninth day, none of the seeds in the venom had
germinated, while two in the water were sprouting.
Twenty-one days after the observation began, the venom-tube offered no signs
of seed-growth, and smelled very unpleasantly. The germs in the water were nearly
half an inch in height.
As the small number of seeds which germinated in the water made it possible
that none but incapable seeds might have fallen to the share of the venom-tube, I
repeated the exjieriment without other variation of the circumstances than the
substitution of mignionette seed for those last employed, and the use of a bell glass
to limit the too rapid evaporation. Twenty seeds were allotted to each vase. This
observation began Oct. 15 th. On Oct. 24 th, none of the seeds in the venom cap-
sule had sprouted, while three of those in the water were in healthy bud, and some
a little above the mesh of cotton. One additional test was required to add to these
observations all the strength that could be given to them. It was possible that
the venom, in decomposing, had lost its potency, and, as detailed previously, I
tested it on animals, but still found it actively poisonous. At various times these
experiments were again and again repeated, with slight modifications, but with no
other result than continual failure to germinate on the part of seeds put in con-
tact with venom.
It appeared probable from these observations, that venom has the power to
prevent the germination of the seeds of plants such as those which I have mentioned
above.
Action of Venom on Animal Life. — We have now reached a point where we turn
from the influence of the venom upon vegetables, to study its power to affect animal
existence.
In place of doubtfully deciding as to the cause of death, we are summoned to
witness the operations of a substance which sometimes acts with a potency so swift
as to defy observation, and which has a power to alter the blood and tissues in a
manner, and with a celerity, which is a source of unending wonder, even to one
who, by daily repetitions, has become familiar with the changes thus produced.
In the course of study now before us, I shall examine, as fully as possible, the
effect of the venom upon cold-blooded animals, including the Crotalus, and upon
various classes of warm-blooded animals.
After this general survey of the symptoms and pathology of the acute and
chronic forms of venom poisoning, in these various classes of animals, I shall ex-
OF THE VENOM OP THE RATTLESNAKE. 53
amine separately the influence of the venom upon the muscles, nerves, bloodvessels,
and blood itself. This general practical examination will enable us to review the
theories hitherto in vogue, and to ascertain, if possible, the proximate mode in
which this mysterious substance may be supposed to act.
In following the track here pointed out, I shall relate, at length, the cases,
symptoms, etc., observed in a considerable number of animals, and I shall allude,
briefly, to a still larger number whose cases it will be needless to state in detail.
Although I shall thus record more experiments than have been made by any other
observer who has studied the subject of Crotalus poisoning, it will, I fear, be but
too plain that the research is one which demands the labors of many, and is,
indeed, of such a nature that some of the questions involved in it, can only be
settled by persons of greater leisure than myself, and who, at the same time, are
so situated as to be able to procure a constant supply of fresh snakes.
It would, perhaps, be more in order to begin this section of our subject by an
examination of the relations of serpent venom to the absorbing surfaces. It will,
however, prove a convenience, as well as an economy of space, if, in place of this
we defer the study of the absorption of venom until we have fully considered its
effects on animals ; since, in so doing, we shall be obliged to detail many of the
facts which bear upon the deferred question.
It will be remembered that, upon page 50 of this Essay, I stated that, on several
occasions I had noticed the production of fungi in moist venom, long kept upon
my table, in an atmosphere of from 64° to 70° F. I have also observed in the
same and in other specimens of venom long kept, and somewhat diluted, that after
seven to ten days, the poison acquired an odor of a peculiar and very disgusting
character. The production of this animalized and indescribable stench was accom-
panied by the appearance of vibriones, and, a few days later, of rotifers and other
minute forms of animalcular life. The occurrence of these little beings in a fluid
so deadly, prompted me to learn whether or not it had lost, by decomposition, any
part of its specific nature as a poison; for, although I was aware that the cuticles
of higher animals opposed a perfect resistance to the passage of the venom, I did not
suppose that the delicate organisms here spoken of could, by any possibility, escape
its action, when born and developed within it. At all events, this view opened
to me a channel for observation of which I had not thought before, and whose
value I therefore proceeded to test, as stated on page 52, by determining what power
yet remained in the venom which had become the nidus of so much active vitality.
It was my intention to examine, in the next place, the effect of the venom
upon leeches, fish, eels, and crustacean animals, but for reasons which it is needless
to relate, I was obliged to postpone these observations until some future occasion.
I was the more desirous, however, of making these examinations, because Fon-
tana had already decided that leeches, snails, and slugs, were unaffected by the
venom of the viper, and because some of his numerous observations in this direction
were open to criticism, from his having failed to observe the animals as long as he
should have done after the infliction of the poisoned wound, a precaution which, as
I shall show, is absolutely essential when studying the influence of the venom
upon cold-blooded animals.
54 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
Action of Yenom on Frogs. — This industrious and most able writer is also tlie only
one who has recorded the effects of the viper poison on frogs/ and, so far as I.
am aware, no one has repeated these observations. It is to be regretted that he
did not state the size of the frogs bitten, since in such facts, or in the fresher
state of his snakes, might have been found the reasons why the frogs which were
subjected to the Crotalus venom, usually lived so much longer than those upon
which the learned Abbe experimented. In the total want of knowledge as to
the power of rattlesnake poison over frogs, I shall quote the passage from Fontana,
in which he relates the results he obtained when making use of viper poison.
He says, " I procured fifty of the largest and strongest frogs I could meet with.
I had each of them bit by a viper, some in the thighs, others in the legs, back, head,
etc. Some of them died in less than half an hour, others in an hour, and others
again in two, three hours, or somewhat more. There were some again that were
not affected, whilst others that did not die became nevertheless swelled. There
were, likewise, others among them that fell into a languishing state, their hind legs
that had been bit, continuing very weak, and even paralytic. In some of them I
contented myself with introducing cautiously into a wound, made with a lancet at the
very instant, a drop of venom. These last, however, lived longer than those I had
bit ; neither of them, however, escaped. I constantly took the precaution to prevent
the venom I introduced into the wound being carried out by the blood that flowed
from it. Some of these frogs swelled very much, others but little, and others not
at all. The wounds of almost all of them were inflamed more or less. There were
some, however, that died very suddenly, without the smallest mark of inflamma-
tion. A short time after these animals had been either bit, or wounded and ven-
omed, the loss of their muscular force, as well as that of the motion of their
extremities, was very evident. When they were set at liberty they no longer
leaped, but dragged their legs and bodies along with great difficulty, and could
scarcely withdraw their thighs when they were pricked with a needle, of the pain
of which they seemed almost insensible. By degrees they became motionless and
paralytic in every part of the body, and after continuing a very short time in this
state died."
With this exception, and a few further remarks by the same author, we are
without information as to the effect of viper venom upon the frog.
Of the effects of Crotalus venom upon the same animal, we know as little, and,
so far as I am aware, only a single recorded experiment of this kind is to be found
in the writings of American authors f their only observations upon cold-blooded
reptiles having been made on the Crotalus itself, or other serpents. We shall now
proceed to study the details of the experiments which I have made upon cold-
blooded animals.
Upon classifying the cases before us, it will be discovered that they divide them-
1 Pontana on Poisons, Chapter VI. p. 34, vol. i. Translation by J. Skinner, London, 1T87.
= A single observation by Harlan.
OP THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 55
selves naturally and conveniently into two classes, which I shall term acute and
chronic, or primary and secondary poisoning.
While in the batrachia the distinction between these two sets of cases is suflQciently
clear, it is less well marked than in warm-blooded animals. At the time I was
engaged upon this portion of my investigation, the active serpents in my collection
were not so large as those which I afterwards received. This may account for the
fact that, although I have some records of frogs more or less acutely poisoned, the
majority of those bitten lived long enough to exhibit, in a marked manner, the
secondary lesions which I shall have occasion hereafter to describe.
The class of cases which I shall term acute, were marked by the negative cha-
racter of the symptoms. In them the local signs of poisoning were very slight,
and the changes in the blood which occurred where life was prolonged after a
serious bite, were absent, or but very slightly marked.
Experiment. — A large frog recently caught, was attached to a string and lowered
into a cage containing four snakes, none of which were over thirty-six inches
long. As I had often observed, no provocation induced them to strike the frog, and,
therefore, after many vain elForts, I drew a snake into the snake-tube, and placed the
frog in its jaws. The serpent bit with eagerness, and the frog, uttering a cry, leaped
from its re-opened jaws to the floor, and for a few moments used its legs so well as
to avoid being caught. When at length it was secured, I searched in vain for the
fang wound, which must have been very small ; I did not discover it until after
death, although I was sure that the skin had been penetrated, because a large
bubble of air had found entry to the dorsal sub-cuticular sac.
The presence of air in this situation often enabled me to be confident that the
fang had pierced the skin. It is occasioned by the attempt on the part of the serpent
to withdraw its fang, which, catching, raises the loose skin, and creating a partial
vacuum, thus draws air alongside of the fang into the subjacent cavities. A little
quivering on the right flank, also, caused me to suspect that as the part bitten.
Except in dogs, who shiver so much from mere fright, the local muscular twitchings
alluded to are also of some value in calling attention to the part bitten. Two hours
after this frog was poisoned, it was dead, having exhibited during the interval occa-
sional convulsive motions of the limbs.
P. M. Dissection. — As soon as all motions, reflex and other, were at an end, the
thorax and belly were laid open. The intestines responded to irritants. The heart
was beating feebly, but in all of its cavities, and was large and dark. It ceased to
pulsate at the close of three hours and ten minutes after the poisoning, and on being
opened, was found to contain blood which coagulated perfectly after short exposure.
The clot was well formed and firm. The muscles were irritable to all forms of
stimulus during eleven hours, and, as I have usually observed, this property lasted
longest in the muscles under the chin.^ Nervous irritability existed until the close
of the fourth hour. The seat of the wound was the right flank, into the muscles
* Brown-Sequard, Bernard, Vulpian, and before them, Fontana, have noted the long retention of irri-
tability by the diaphragm muscles. In the frog, the sub-mental group corresponds in function to these,
as I have shown elsewhere.
56 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
of which the fangs had entered obUquely, both teeth taking effect. There was
moi'e serum than usual in the dorsal sac, through which the weapons passed, and
their track was marked by a Httle darkening of the neighboring muscles.
In twenty-four hours the muscular parts about the bite were almost diffluent,
while the rest of the frog had no odor, or any other sign of putrefaction.
Experiment. — A large snake, from which I had in vain attempted to extract venom,
was secured in the snalte-box as usual. Before releasing it, I placed a small frog,
about four or five inches long, in its mouth, so that when it bit, which it did
fiercely enough, the fang entered the belly. Slight local quivering of the nearer
muscles, and some convulsive extensions of the hind legs, were the only marked
signs, and no notable changes in the pupil was perceived until death took place, when
it dilated. At the close of sixty-two minutes, neither voluntary or reflex motions
could be elicited.
P. M. Section. — The wound exhibited no local evidences of poisoning. The aper-
ture in the skin was small, and but one fang had entered. In passing through, or
out of the sub-cuticular abdominal walls, the fang tore these structures, so as to make
a distinct opening, through which a little serum from the dorsal sac had passed, and
carrying with it a little blood, had found its way into the peritoneal cavity. None
of the abdominal viscera were transfixed. The ventricle of the heart beat only
for fifteen minutes after it was exposed. The auricles beat feebly for one hour and
forty minutes after this period. The nervous irritability was extinct everywhere
thirty minutes after voluntary and reflex movement ceased, while the muscular
ix'ritability lasted but half an hour longer, and was thus entirely absent when the
auricles of the heart were still pulsating. The blood in the heart clotted on exposure.
Experiment. — A small snake was teased until it struck a frog of medium size, and
was itself so caught that it hung for a moment, when I drew the frog out by pulling
on the string with which I had secured it. Upon inspection, it seemed that the fang
had struck upon the spine. On being released, the frog ajDpeared very uneasy, and
for ten or twelve minutes was incessantly leaping about in the glass vessel in which
it had been placed. At the close of half an hour, the frog became suddenly quiet,
and shortly after was attacked with a general quivering of the muscles, followed by
the loss of volitional control. Slight reflex acts were still capable of being pro-
duced, when the limbs were violently stimulated by mechanical means, but at the
close of an hour from the period of poisoning, these also ceased, the eyelids became
motionless when touched, and the frog being considered dead, was opened.
P. M. Section. — One fang was found to have entered the spine, and slightly
wounded the medulla, which was rather too much injected with blood, but other-
wise unaltered in structure. All the remaining viscera were healthy, and the heart
was still acting with all its cavities as late as two hours and a half after the poison-
ing, when the observation stopped for a time. Four hours later, the organ had
ceased to pulsate, and was only possessed of a slight localized irritability under
stimulus. The blood was well coagulated.
The above quoted instances were the only cases of rapid death which I was called
upon to observe in this class of animals. Their discussion will occupy us at another
time.
OP THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 67
From a large number of instances of death in frogs, from the secondary or
chronic action of the venom, I have selected the most interesting, and those which
best illustrate the nature of the symptoms.
ExperimeMt. — Temperature 84° F. A very large frog was struck by a snake two
and a half feet long, on the back of the pelvis, upon the left side. Twenty-five hours
and five minutes after the blow, the frog was re-examined, and found to be inert
and sluggish, but still able to move. During the interval, it occupied a glass jar
containing a large wetted sponge, and partly open at top. The back of the frog was
darker than usual, and presented a fluctuating mass of fluid beneath the skin. The
eyes were natural, the respirations occurred now and then, and the lymph-hearts,
at the end of the spine were acting as usual. One day later the frog's condition
was much as before. On the third day it was motionless, except under excessive
stimulus, when it leaped once or twice, or if placed on its back, turned itself over
with great difficulty. On the fourth day the sweUing on the back diminished
somewhat, and the subcuticular sacs of the legs became swollen.
From this time the frog grew weaker, although put in water daily for an hour
or two, and every pains taken to preserve it in a healthy state. It died during my
absence on the fifth day.
P. M. Section. — The muscles in the track of the fang which had not entered
deeply, were dark in color, and underwent extreme decomposition within twenty-
four hours, while the rest of the body was not sensibly affected. About the
wound, in the dorsal sac, were large quantities of bloody serum, which coagulated
feebly upon exposure. The other sacs, wherever examined, were also filled with
bloody serum, and a similar fluid was found in the peritoneum and pericardium.
Bloody mucus flowed from the mouth and nostrils, and the stomach and mucous
surface of the intestines were stained with frequent patches of extravasated blood.
The lungs were shrunken, but contained no blood. The heart, which was pale
and unirritable, contained only two minute and very pallid clots, adherent to the
auricular walls. The muscles of the legs and the flanks responded feebly to gal-
vanism during one hour and thirty minutes after exposure. Those of the forelegs
were also irritable, but, singularly enough, the muscles under the jaw had lost their
power to act. The muscles were generally pale, owing to the great loss of blood.'
The sheaths or fascia were stained with blood in nearly every part of the body, and
even between the separate muscles and the bone. There was no post-mortem rigor
observed.
Experiment. — Temperature 74° F. A large frog was bitten fiercely by a snake
three feet long, which thrust one fang deeply into the left thigh. The other fang
missed the leg entirely. During the five succeeding hours, the subject was watched
by an assistant, who described the wound as exuding bloody serum, while the animal
remained -in one position, quite motionless. It died during the following night,
when unobserved, and was found the next day in a state of rigor, a good deal
shrunken, although great pains had been taken to keep it constantly moistened.
P. M. Section. — The bitten leg was greatly swollen, and the muscles beneath were
livid with extravasated blood. Everywhere in the injured limb the muscles were
deeply stained with blood, and this appearance was not confined to this limb, but
58 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
existed also in the leg not bitten. About the bite, the muscular structure was
almost diffluent, and could be torn with the utmost ease. A slight effusion of blood
was found under both forelegs, in the axillary spaces. Elsewhere the organs were
healthy. The heart was unirritable, and contained a little thin uncoagulated blood.
Nervous irritability was extinct, and that of the muscles absent, except under the
chin, where it remained for an hour or more after exposure.
Experiment. — Temperature 74° F. A second frog of large size was bitten twice by
the same snake which had just bitten the last one. On each occasion, a single fang
entered, the leg and the thigh being thus wounded. From these wounds, a bloody
serum continually oozed, until I ceased to observe it. Certainly, a drachm or more
of fluid exuded in this manner. On the second day, matters were as before. On
the third, the frog was very sluggish. The bitten leg was enormously swollen to
the very end of the toes, which, on being held up to the light, were seen to be
distended with red serum. The skin of this member was also soaked, in places,
with extravasated blood. On the fourth morning, the frog was found to have died
during the night.
P. M. Section. — Slight rigor mortis. The bitten leg was literally soaked in blood
to the extreme edges of the web, and was everywhere swollen by this local accu-
mulation. The flexors of the thigh were filled with blood, so as to be dark crim-
son throughout their thickness. A little bloody fluid was present in most of the
sub-cuticular sacs. The heart was pale, bloodless, and unirritable. The other
organs wer-e normal. The nerves and muscles proved to have lost their power to
react under stimulus. The little blood found in the vessels was diffluent. As in
some other cases, the fluid of the dorsal lymphatic sac coagulated feebly upon expo-
sure to the air.
Experiment. — Temperature 73° F. A small frog was bitten on the back, below the
scapula, by a snake about three feet long, which had already used its fangs once
within twenty-four hours. The fang-mark was not visible, but from the presence
of air in the dorsal sac, T was convinced that the weapon had entered. The
muscles about the bitten part immediately began to quiver, and this motion soon
extended to both flanks. The frog became rapidly weak, and within an hour and
a half could not turn when laid on its back, and was unable to use its hind legs.
At this time the pupils were contracted, the eyes half closed, and the lids of the
right organ completely insensible, the left one nearly so. The frog shortly after-
wards lost all voluntary power, even in the forelegs, but exhibited slight reflex
phenomena up to the fifth hour, when it was apparently dead.
P. M. Section. — The wound passed through the muscles below the scapula, and
into the liver and peritoneal cavity, which contained a little bloody fluid. The
heart was beating forty-four to the minute, auricles and ventricle acting. Half an
hour later the auricles alone were acting, and these were arrested during the en-
suing period of ten hours, although carefully protected from desiccation. The
nerves everywhere were highly irritable, but this passed away completely within
half an hour. The muscular irritability remained good during two hours. Ten
hours later, no muscle responded to irritants. The small amount of blood found
in the heart was fluid. It is to be remarked that, in some of these cases, nothing
OF THE VENOM OE THE RATTLESNAKE. 59
was more difficult than to ascertain whether the minute amount of blood present
was coagulated or not. Both lungs were gorged with blood, and the intestines
were dotted with specks of extravasated blood, although no free blood was found
in the intestinal canal.
The cases above quoted illustrate nearly every peculiarity of the effects of the
venom upon batrachia, whether affecting them rapidly or slowly.
It is necessary to the completion of this study, that we recount, also, the manner
in which the dried venom of the Crotalus acted upon these cold-blooded animals.
In one respect its action is undoubtedly peculiar.
I have already alluded, in several instances, to the dried venom of the Crotalus.
The specimen used in the following experiments was given to me by Prof. Leidy,
who received it from my friend Prof. Wm. A. Hammond. It was obtained in
Kansas, in the autumn of 1857, by a process similar to that which I have described
on page 28. It had been allowed to dry into thin yellow scales, and was preserved
in this condition in a small bottle, not very well secured from the air.
Prof. Christison had already stated that cobra poison, fourteen years old, was still
effective. Mangili^ had ascertained the same of viper poison eighteen months old.
Orfila,' in recounting the experiments of the author last named, observes that
they proved contradictory of the statements of Fontana,^ an assertion which is only
partially correct, since the learned Abbe distinctlj^ states that viper poison is active
after being preserved for several years in the cavity of a dry fang. He adds,
moreover, that the powdered and dried venom had been kept by him for several
months without loss of its power, and he also adduces Eedi's* experience to the
same effect. At the close of these statements he remarks, however, that the
poison may lose its potency by being kept, and that this took place frequently
when he attempted to preserve it longer than ten months. As we shall have occa-
sion to see, this is not the only instance where the learned Abbe has been misquoted
and misunderstood. Few authors of such merit as Fontana have had so little justice
at the hands of those who have followed them, and this remark applies not alone
to his work on the Viper, but to his researches on Ticunas, and to other labors,
many of the results of which have been assiduously re-discovered by more modern
observers.
Experiment. Poisoning hy Dried Venom. — Temperature 79° F. A frog of middle
size received in the muscles of the back a small quantity of dried venom. An un-
envenomed wound of corresponding size was inflicted upon the other side of the
spine. On inspection, twenty-one hours after, the frog was found seated and quiet.
During half an hour no respiration occurred. Upon touching the eye, the frog
breathed once and moved its entire body, after which no further motion could be
provoked, and the animal seemed to be dead.
P. M. Section. — On comparison, the two wounds were so much alike, that no dif-
» Maugili, Annales de Chimie et de Physique, Fevrier, ISIT, from Giornale di Fisica Chimica, etc.,
vol. ix. p. 458.
" Orfila, Traite de Toxicologie, t. ii. p. 852.
' Fontana, vol. i. Chapter XXII. p. 65.
* Redi, see also Russell, p. 63.
60 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
ference could be perceived between tbem. Not the least sign of swelling, conges-
tion, or inflammation, was visible about either. The heart, which was large and
dark, beat fifteen in the minute, all its cavities acting feebly until it was cut out, at
the close of half an hour.
The nerves of the legs were irritable for rather over an hour, and the muscular
excitability endured but two hours longer, when post-mortem rigor came on. The
cardiac blood coagulated very well.
Experiment. — A little dried venom was placed in the muscles of the thigh of a
frog. As the wound bled rather freely, a second portion was inserted in the lumbar
muscles. The frog died during the ensuing night, within twenty-one hours of the
poisoning. When examined, there was not the slightest local sign of the presence
of venom, nor was there bloody serum in any of the lymphatic sacs. The nerves
and muscles were unexcitable. The heart was at rest, and was not irritable. It
contained a little coagulated blood. Other viscera healthy.
Experiment. — A fang recently shed, together with a small quantity of dried venom,
was buried in the muscles of the back. After death, the muscles about the imbedded
fang were softened, and dotted with points of blood. A little bloody serum was
found in the cuticular sac of the wounded thigh. About the spot wounded with
the dry venom, there was a little redness, but no softening or extravasation. The
remaining symptoms of the case are valueless in this connection.
The chief reason for quoting the above cases here, is to call attention to the
almost utter absence of local symptoms when dried venom was used in frogs.
Effect of the Venom upon the Crotalus. — This research resolves itself into two
propositions, or rather, questions. First, Can the Crotalus kill its own species?
Second, can any individual snake destroy itself?
The first of these queries has been more or less completely answered, as regards
certain Indian snakes, the viper of Europe, and our own Crotalus. KusselP made
a Cobra bite a nooni-paragoodoo near the anus. It died in one hour and a quarter.
A little local discoloration existed about the wound, and the lungs were full of
blood. A Cobra bit another Cobra, with a negative result. How long it was
observed, is not stated.
A Coodum-nagoo bit a Cobra, the two fangs taking eflfect, the result, as before,
being negative. All of these snakes were venomous.
A Coodum-nagoo bit a Tortutta, a harmless serpent, which perished within two
hours.
Fontana's^ experiments on the effect of the venom of the viper upon its own
kind, were briefly as follows : —
One viper was bitten by another several times. The wounds swelled a little.
It was killed by Fontana after thirty-six hours, and found to have been deeply
wounded, the bites being a little inflamed and swollen.
A middle-sized viper received from two large ones six fang wounds. The viper
remained agile, and was well at the end of four days. When killed, it was found
' Russell, p. 56.
= Fontana, vol. i. p. 29 et seq. Skinner's translation.
OP THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 61
to have been bitten through and through. The wounds were somewhat inflamed.
Five other vipers thus bitten, did not die. Length of observation not mentioned.
Again, a portion of skin having been removed from the backs of four vipers, seven
vipers were made to bite them. None of the bitten animals died, and only one of
them was at all languid, and had a little swelling about the wound. Three vipers
were wounded in the back, and the wound filled with venom. The wounds in-
flamed, but did not swell. The animals seem to have been killed at the end of
several days. A viper was forced to bite itself; it did not die. Another was made
to bite on a piece of jagged glass, so that its mouth was wounded as the poison
flowed into it. On the seventh day the wounds were healed.
M. Bernard' recently repeated Fontana's experiments, and found that a viper
which had been both bitten and inoculated artificially with venom, died on the
third day. Upon this experiment, M. Bernard criticizes Fontana, as having ob-
served the viper and pigeons together, and having concluded that, because the cold-
blooded animal was not affected so soon as the other, that it was incapable of being
killed by the venom. As we have seen, however, some of Fontana's experiments
were observed during periods of time much greater than that required to destroy
the viper observed by M. Bernai'd. Thus, although Fontana was most probably
mistaken in his conclusions, he did not fail in the point criticized, from any glaring
neglect of continued observation.
The American authorities upon this matter are brief, but decided. They refer
principally to the power of the snake to destroy itself, and to this point, indeed, my
own experiments have been directed, since it was plain that if the individual could
thus be made to kill itself, there could be no added difficulty in comprehending its
ability to kill its fellows.
Besides including the general proposition, the question before us has a specific
interest, from the fact that snakes are often accidentally hurt about the mouth, and
that abrasions of this cavity must frequently occur. We are, therefore, called upon
to say why the snake suffers so little from wounds on which a poison so deadly
to other animals must fall from time to time.
Our own writers" state almost unanimously that the Crotalus is able to kill itself
"Without quoting them in full, it is enough to add that their experiments were
commonly made by switching a snake until it turned and struck itself Death is
usually described as following within a few minutes.
At the close of a series of experiments on warm-blooded animals, I made use of
some of my largest snakes in the following manner : —
Experiment. — Temperature 65° to 75° F. A small snake about twenty-seven
inches long, was caught by the neck, and its tail placed in its mouth. It bit, but
did not wound. A portion of skin having been removed from the back, it was
1 Claude Bernard, Le9ons sur les Effets des Substances Toxiques, etc., 185T, p. 291.
Dr. Brown-Sequard appears to have made experiments upon the Viper, but I have been unable to find
his paper.
= Burnett, p. 323.
62 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
allowed to bite again, and when the fangs were fixed in the naked muscles, the
upper jaw was violently pressed downwards, so as to wound the part deeply.
Upon the sixth day, the wound was covered with a gray exudation, such as is
usuallj' found upon the healing surface of the wounds of serpents. This snake died
on the fourteenth day. The tissues about the bite were congested, the gall-bladder
full, mucus in the stomach, the venom glands dark from effused blood.
Experiment. — A large snake was made to bite himself twice, in a space near the
cloac, where the skin had been removed. This serpent also died on the fourteenth
day. The wound was apparently healthy, and not to be distinguished from any
other wound, except that the muscles about it were a little softened. The blood
was uncoagulated, but there was no other visible lesion of any internal organ.
Experiment. — On the same day a large snake, fifty-six inches long, had a small
portion of the skin on the back loosened and turned over, so as to make a flap.
On this wound was placed about a drop of venom from the snake itself. The poison
was finally thrust into a number of superficial cuts made in the muscles on which
the drop fell. On the second day, the snake being well to appearance, half a drop
of its own venom was put in a superficial wound half way up the back. This
wound seemed to excite the snake, which, on being replaced in its box, continued
in very rapid and violent motion for some minutes, as though in pain. On the
sixth day, both wounds were covered with gray exudation, and beneath, the mus-
cles were soft, but in this, as in other cases, no effusion of blood existed about the
wound. The snake was sluggish, and indisposed to bite. It died on the tenth day.
P. M. — There were no visceral lesions, except that one lung contained a little
effused blood. The venom glands were dark and congested. The heart blood
coagulated firmly, thirty minutes after removal. In all probability this serpent
died from some other cause than venom poisoning.
Ekperiment. — A snake forty-six inches long was secured, and the skin just above
the anus removed from a space of about one inch by two. On this, the snake bit itself
three times, throwing out a good deal of venom which was thrust deeply into the
muscles of the part. On the second day, the wounded muscles were softened, but
no blood was effused. The wound had been re-covered with skin, and secured by
sutures. At the close of two weeks this snake was healthy, and bit eagerly. The
wounds were partially healed.
Experiments. — Three large serpents were made to disgorge their venom, and the
poison from each snake was injected under the skin of its back, with the aid of a
small syringe and trocar. The snakes, which I will distinguish as numbers one,
two, and three, received respectively ten, eight, and seven drops of poison.
No. 1 died in thirty-six hours. The wound was surrounded by softened tissues,
but was not stained with blood. The organs generally were normal, except the
stomach, which contained bloody mucus. The heart was full of clotted blood.
No. 2 died in sixty-seven hours. The local appearances in this case were much
as in the last one, but less extensive. The interior organs were healthy, and the
heart contained two loose and soft clots.
No. 3 died during the seventh day. The wound, in this case, penetrated the
muscles, which were dark and much softened. The blood in the heart was mostly
OP THE YENOM OP THE EATTLESNAKE. 63
diffluent, presenting but a single small coagulum of loose structure. The intestines
were spotted -with ecchymoses, and the peritoneal cavity contained about a drachm
of fluid blood.
I may add to these cases the numerous instances in which I have wounded the
mouths of snakes, or torn the vagina dentis, while robbing them of poison. On
none of these occasions has any serious result followed the injury, even where
venom had fallen upon the abraded surfaces in considerable amount.
The above experiments were on the whole so definite in their results, that I did
not think it necessary to multiply them. I had very many times injured snakes
far more than these were injured by their own fangs, or the preparatory manipula-
tions, and I, therefore, felt at liberty to conclude that the animals employed on these
latter occasions really died from the venom. The length of time requii'ed for this
to occur was curious, and far exceeded in most of them that which was noted in
Bernard's case, or in the many instances of which I have been told where rattle-
snakes had stricken themselves.
One of the factors in the experiment, and one which has been too much neg-
lected, is the temperature, which in my own cases was very moderate during the
day, and fell a good deal lower at night, the observations having been carried on
during a cool period in September, 1859. M. Bernard, Russell, and Fontana, give
no record of the temperature during their observations. That it is a very important
condition in the venom poisoning of the cold-blooded batrachia I have frequently
observed, and it is highly probable that in all cold-blooded animals the elevation
of temperature carries with it an increase of danger from poisons, and especially
from those of a septic nature.
When we examine the pathological effects of the venom in warm-blooded ani-
mals, we shall see that, while the general phenomena were essentially the same
as in cold-blooded reptiles and batrachia, they were far more rapidly produced.
The Crotalus itself was a good illustration of this contrast, and was in other
respects exceptional in the mode in which it was affected, since, while the muscles
were altered, as in warm-blooded creatures, the blood coagulated better than was
usual in them, and the visceral lesions were less severe, and less frequent. On the
other hand, while the frog was for its size remarkably unimpressible by Crotalus
venom, the phenomena which in it accompanied the examples of slow poisoning,
were in no respect different from those developed in the warm-blooded animals.
To this subject we shall recur, after studying the effects of the venom upon the
higher animals.
64 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
CHAPTER VI.
TOXICOLOGICAL ACTION OF THE VENOM UPON WAEM-BLOODED
ANIMALS.
We shall now enter, without other comment, on the study of the eiFects of Cro-
talus venom upon warm-blooded animals.
Of all warm-blooded creatures, birds are most susceptible to the influence of this
poison. So sudden, indeed, were its effects in some of them, that when the dose of the
venom was large, there was hardly time to observe the I'esultant phenomena. In
larger birds this extreme sensibility to the poison alsoexisted. when the dose was in
proportion greater. So minute, however, was the quantity required to kill a small
bird, such as the reed-bird, that under certain circumstances these little ci'eatures
became very delicate tests of the presence or relative activity of the venom. ,
Experiment. — A pigeon was lowered into the snake-box, and was struck once, high
up on the back, by a snake of middle size, which had just used its fangs. Upon this
occasion, both fangs were buried deeply. On being released, the pigeon walked
across the table, and seeking a corner, remained at rest, until, at the close of three
minutes it fell down, and immediately began to breathe convulsively, now and then
gaping, and making efforts to rise. The difficulty in the respiration seemed to be
due to the general weakness, which interfered with all the other movements at the
same time. The bird became more and more feeble, the breathing more labored,
and at the end of the seventh minute the head fell to one side, the breathing
ceased, and the bird died without convulsions.
P. M. Section. — Both fang marks were surrounded by circles of extravasated
blood, about three lines in breadth. The motor nerves of the wings and legs were
irritable nine minutes after death. The muscles remained irritable during twenty-
nine minutes, when post-mortem rigor appeared in the legs, and soon became general.
The heart beat with all its cavities, four minutes after respiration ceased. Both
auricles and ventricles were sensitive to mechanical stimulus nine minutes after
death. Two minutes later, the ventricles ceased to resf)ond, but the auricles were
more or less irritable fifteen minutes after death. The blood coagulated moderately
well. It was very dark, but on exposure became bright red.
Experiment. — Temperature 74° F. A pigeon secured by a string was thrown into
a snake-box. Two snakes of middle size, two and a half to three feet long, struck
at it as soon as it began to flutter. The pigeon was at once removed and put on
the table, where, in two minutes it showed signs of weakness, staggered to and fro,
and at last, as usual, sought refuge in a corner. At the sixth minute, its bi'eath-
ing became labored and jerking, and the muscles about the wound were twitching
OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. (55
locally. At the sixteenth minute, the breathing was still jerking, but more rapid,
the bird crouched as if asleep, the eye natural ; the pupil, if changed at all, a little
contracted. At the thirty-sixth minute the head fell, the eyes closed, respiration
became rare and labored, and the pupils contracted. Cloac temperature 104*° F.
At the fortieth minute, the head was bent suddenly forward on the breast, and after
three such motions of a convulsive nature, respiration ceased at the forty-second
minute.
P. M. Section. — The head was cut off at once, and the blood received in a cap-
sule. It was dark, but became red on exposure, and coagulated firmly, at the close
of four minutes. Nervous irritability existed feebly in the sciatic nerves, nine
minutes after death. Elsewhere it continued to the twelfth or thirteenth minute,
when a probe thrust down the spine occasioned no motion. Ten minutes after
death the muscles were everywhere very irritable. Thirty-three minutes after death
this property was present only in the thighs and the diaphragm. In both of these
localities it was still perceptible fifty-six minutes after death. Ten minutes later,
I could not feel sure of its existence. The heart, which was large and dark, ceased
to beat ten minutes after respiration stopped, and two minutes later had totally
lost all irritability to stimulus. The auricles contained a little dark blood, chiefly
uncoagulated, with the exception of two small and soft clots.
Experiment. — A snake four feet long was secured and made to bite a pigeon, which
it seized so that one fang entered the knee. This pigeon had recovered from a former
bite with the loss of a portion of the pectoral muscles. It was well and active.
Upon its being bitten, I threw it from me, but, to my surprise, its wings were mo-
tionless, and it fell a dead weight on the table, and did not afterwards breathe or
move. Thirty seconds elapsed between the bite and the death.
P. M. Section. — Some little delay occurred, owing to the unexpected nature of
the death, and on exposing the heart within three or four minutes, it had ceased to
beat, although it responded to stimulus feebly and locally for a few minutes longer.
The nerves in the thigh were irritable during twenty-eight minutes. The muscles
everywhere lost their irritability within two hours and ten minutes.
Cases of chronic or secondary poisoning were, naturally, rare in birds, and if
they survived a few hours, they frequently recovered. The following cases illus-
trate suflBciently well the chronic form of poisoning.
Experiment. — Temperature 77° F. A large white pigeon was thrown into the
snake-box, the inmates of which seemed, for a time, reluctant to use their power.
Finally a snake two feet in length bit the pigeon once in the breast, and became
so entangled, that bird and serpent rolled over together. On examining the wound,
two fang marks were found in the pectoral region, but so much of the venom had
been cast upon the neighboring feathers, that I presumed the wound could not be
rapidly mortal. Three hours after its infliction, the bird drooped a little and was
disposed to sleep. A few hours later this tendency had passed awaj', but the
Avound was dark and swollen from effused blood. No signs of active inflammation
existed. On pressure, a little serous blood flowed from the wound. Within five
days the skin gave way and the parts beneath sloughed to the bones. At the close
9
66 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
of this process on the sixth day, the bird died, probably of mere exhaustion and
constitutional irritation.
Experiment. — Two pigeons were bitten by a snake which had made frequent and
recent use of its fangs. Both birds were purposely exposed in such a way that they
were bitten in the thigh. Both were enfeebled by the poison and seemed disposed to
sleep. One of them sunk slowly, lower and lower, until its head touched the
table, when it rolled on its side. It died without convulsions nearly eleven hours
after the bite. The second pigeon, which was also the last bitten, died in violent
convulsions with the head thrown backwards, during the eighth hour.
P. M. Section.~hi neither of these birds was the blood coagulated, nor did it
pass into that state upon exposure. In the pigeon first struck the pericardium was
very full of serous blood, but no other organ was altered. In the second pigeon,
the lungs, air passages, and mouth were full of blood, the mucous walls of the
stomach were deeply congested in spots, and the peritoneal surface of the small
intestines was marked with star-like points of extravasated blood.
Experiment. — A pigeon was struck in the back by a small snake, only one fang
entering. The bird was placed on the table, where it instantly sought a corner and
in ten minutes fell into the usual stupor with jerking, abrupt respiration. This
condition seemed to lessen an hour later, but only for a time, and the bird finally
sinking down, became weaker and weaker, and died without convulsions at the
close of five hours and a half. The pupils gradually contracted before death, and
suddenly dilated afterwards.
P. M. Section. — The wound in the back was dark, and a little thin dark blood
oozed from it. The tissues around it for an inch or more, were soaked with ex-
travasated blood, which had even passed through between the ribs, so as to stain
the tissues behind the intestines and crop. The heart was large and full of per-
fectly fluid blood. No other lesions were observed, except that the pericordial
serum was a little bloody.
My chief reason for recording at length the cases above reported, is to show
the great increase in the internal lesions which occurs when the venom is long in
killing the animal. Among these changes, it was found, as a general rule, that the
blood was most affected, and least coagulable, the longer the death was delayed.
I have not thought it necessary to report in full the whole of the numerous cases
of the malady in the pigeon. In some instances, the birds recovered from the
immediate effect of the jjoison to die of the secondary lesions induced by it. In
others, the death was sudden and early, and in a third class it was delayed for a
few hours. All of these find illustration in the cases already quoted. One point,
however, appeared to me to demand further attention.
When a number of any class of animals are poisoned, certain phenomena and
lesions occur constantly, others exceptionally ; and this is true of what are usually
known as diseases, as well as of more easily studied cases of poisoning. To illus-
trate this, I have selected seven cases of a fatal character in pigeons, none of which
have been reported in the foregoing pages. To save space, I have presented them
in tabular form, so as to show, at a glance, the variety of symptoms and patho-
OF THE VEXOM OP THE RATTLESNAKE.
67
logical appearances which may occur. No cases of very early death are admitted
into this report.
1
1 TABLE OF SYMPTOMS AND LESIONS IN SEVEN CASES OF PIGEONS POISONED BY CROTALUS VENOM.
No.
No. of
(
Locality
Duration of
Occurrence of
Internal lesions. State of blood. ,
fang
bitten.
life from time
convulsions.
marks.
of bite.
,
1
1
Thigh.
2 hours.
None.
None. j Loosely coagulated. j
a
2
Breast.
4 hours and
None.
Spots of extravasation under j Chieiiy uncoagulated, one |
10 minutes.
the peritoneal surface of the
intestines and on the.heart.
small heart clot of loose
texture.
8
2
Back and
2 hours and
Violent.
None.
Coagulated well.
1
Breast.
17 minutes.
4
2
Breast.
5 hours.
Slight spasms
at death.
None.
Coagulated loosely after a
few minutes.
5
'
Thigh.
9 hours and
10 minutes.
None.
Bloody serum in pericardium,
bloody mucus in lung.
Blood diffluent.
ti
2
Back.
3 hours.
Sliglit at
death.
Ecchymosed spots on the
heart, abundant yellow
serum in pericardium.
Blood diffluent ; one small,
soft clot in right auricle.
1
1
Leg.
6 hours and
30 minutes.
None.
No visible lesions.
Blood perfectly fluid.
i
The remaining observations were made upon reed-birds, and were principally
incidental to researches upon special points to which I shall have to refer so much
at length in another place, that it is needless to duplicate them here. The reed-
bird proved so susceptible a test, that one-eighth of a drop of venom suflSced in
most cases to destroy it, the length of life in these instances being always in inverse
ratio to the amount of poison employed.
Among warm blooded quadrupeds, I have examined the influence of venom on
the rabbit, the guinea pig, and the dog. On the first mentioned animal I have
made ten observations. Of these, I shall report two at length, the remainder in
full tabular form. Upon the guinea pig I have made only four experiments, all of
them incidental to special points of research, and not so fully reported in my note
book as to enable me to detail at length their symptoms and lesions.
Experiment. Poisoning of Rabbits. — A large white rabbit was lowered into the
snake-box, and was instantly struck by a small snake. The wound took effect on
the left hind paw. The rabbit was removed and put upon the table, when it rolled
over, gasping and slightly convulsed, and was dead in one minute.
P. M. — No lesion was found in any organ. The fore feet twitched for some
few minutes after death, and the skin muscles moved to and fro in a singular
manner. The heart was beating actively, but feebly, just after death, and con-
tinued locally irritable for over an hour and a half. The muscles and motor nerves
were perfectly excitable several minutes after death. The blood coagulated firmly
and rapidly ; a perfect case of acute poisoning.
Experiment. — In this instance the animal was struck once in the back by a large
snake already exhausted by frequent use. A few minutes after the bite took place
the rabbit was seized with weakness, gritting of the teeth, and rapid respiration.
It passed urine and feces, and remained feeble during some hours. From this
period the weakness abated somewhat, but the back continued to swell. On the
second day the local signs were impi-oving, but the animal had passed a very albu-
68
phtsioloctT axd toxicology
minous urine, and a large amount of blood mixed with feces. The symptoms of
general weakness now increased, the hind legs began to drag, the motions were
uncertain, and the bloody purging grew worse. The rabbit died on the third day,
during my absence.
P. 21. Section. — Eigor well developed. The period of death being uncertain, the
irritability of the tissues was not tested. The wound was surrounded by half an
ounce or more of dark fluid blood. The vessels in the neighborhood were full of a
similar fluid, but there was no vascular redness, like that of acute inflammation.
The muscles in the track of the bite, which was a double fang mark, were remark-
ably softened and could be torn with the utmost ease. The brain was highly con-
gested, and there was a good deal of bloody serum in the cavities of that organ.
Similar congestion existed in the spinal canal, and at several points the white
nervous tissue was stained with small patches of blood. The lungs were healthy.
The pericardium was curiously distended with bloody serum. The heart was con-
tracted and contained but little blood, and that dark and diffluent. The intestines
were spotted at intervals with ecchymoses four to five lines in diameter and appa-
rently just beneath the serous covering, the cavity of which contained a little
bloody serum. The intestines from the oesophagus to the rectum were dotted with
ecchymoses and filled, especially the large gut, with blood and mucus. The right
kidney was lai'ge and absolutely soaked with dark fluid blood. The left kidney
was more healthy. The bladder and ureters contained a good deal of bloody urine.
How the rabbit lived so long with such a singular complication of serious lesions it
is diflicult to conceive. In most cases of chronic poisoning, some one or two organs
may become the seat of local extravasations, but for extent and character of lesion
this case stands alone in my experience.
■ j
I TABLE OF STilPTOMS IX EIGHT RABBITS.
Duration of life Early local symptoms
after bite. and place of wound.
General symptoms.
Mode of death.
Slight swelling in
fore shonlder.
Hind right leg
swelled enormotis-
\y up to the spine.
1 honr and 10 ' Jfeck: slight sweU-
5 hotu^ and 4
minutes.
minntes.
27 minntes.
43 minntes.
9 horns.
2 honis and 9
minutes.
ingjlocal twitches.
Necfc; slight sweU-
ing, local twitches .
Right hind leg.
Left fore paw.
JS^ecb and head ;
local twitching.
Left fore leg.
Prostration and loss of power without loss Gradual, without conTul-
of sensation or cerebration, jerking respi- j sions.
ration, general twitching.
Prostration, gritting the teeth, local and j Gradual, with slight ge-
general twitching, jerking respiration, neral convulsion; head
gradual loss of power, with continued thrown forwards, feet
ability to hear, see, &c., untU near death. ! extended.
r I
Sudden loss of motor power, gaping, pros-
tration, very quick respiration.
Sudden prostration.
Loss of motor power, prostration, jerking,
respiration, general twitching.
Prostration, gradual loss of motion, gritting
the teeth, jerking respiration not so weU
marked as usual, singular and incessant
morement in the skin muscles.
Sudden prostration and loss of motion,
respiration quick and labored, not jerk-
ing.
Symptoms of weakness suddenly deve-
loped, 15 minntes after bite : respiration
jerking.^
Gradual, no conTuIsions.
Violent convTilsions.
Violent convulsions.
So convulsions ; gradual
and easy death.
Gradual, with slight con-
vulsive motions of the
limbs and skin muscles.
Gradual and easy ; no
convulsions.
• In all of the above cases the heart pulse became rapid and feeble.
OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE.
69
TABLE OF
LESIONS IN THE EIGHT BABBITS MENTIONED ABOVE.
1
No.
Local appearances.
Heart and lungs. 1 Abdominal viscera.
Nervous system.
Blood. 1
1
Small area of extrava-
Heart dark, relaxed, and Healthy.
Slight fulness in
Coagulated pret-
sated blood.
full of blood, on right
side especially.
the vessels of
the brain.
ty well.
2
Extensive effasion of
Heart contained a good The caecum con-
The usual vas-
One small clot in
blood, partly clotted, and
deal of blood on both
tained a good
cular fulness
left ventricle,
reaching up the leg to
sides ; a little bloody
deal of dark
only.
and elsewhere
the flank and down to
serum in the pericar-
blood in patch-
the blood was
the foot, and soaking the
dium.
es.
fluid.
muscles to the bone.
3
Slight extravasiou of
Heart full on both sides.
Intestines dotted
None.
Blood uncoagu-
blood.
with small spots
of extravasated
blood.
lated.
4 Slight extravasation.
Heart full on both sides.
"None.
None.
Coagulated well.
5 i Slight and thin layer of
Heart as usual, no le-
None.
A little bloody
Loosely coagula-
extravasated blood.
sion.
serum in the
ventricles of
the brain.
ted.
6 I Part enormously swollen
Bloody serum in pe-
None.
Great vascular
Blood uncoagu-
1 with blood, partly in
ricardium and both
fulness.
lated.
loose clots when let out
pleurae; two extensive
by incision at the third
extravasations in the
hour.
right lung ; a rare oc-
currence.
7 Scarcely a trace of any
No lesion; right side of
None.
None.
Blood perfectly
! lesion except the fang
heart much distended
coagulated.
' wound.
with blood.
8 Extravasated blood be-
No lesion ; heart large
A few small spots
None.
Uncoagulated.
tween skin and muscles
and full of blood in aU
of blood under
up to the thigh.
of its cavities.
the peritoneum
of the small in-
testines.
Effect of Crotalus Venom on Dogs. — Thus far we have dealt with animals who
were almost inevitably destroyed by the bite of the Crotalus. The canine species
are far less liable to die, because their larger size is in itself a protection, as must
be evident, when we consider that the poison is active in proportion to the amount
injected, and that this will be the same, whether the animal bitten be a bird or a
horse. In the following cases, therefore, some will be found to have resulted favor-
ably. On the other hand, the most rapidly fatal termination was consequent upon
a number of bites, and took place at the close of twenty minutes. On this point
I have a brief explanation to make, before going further.
At the time of my experiments upon dogs, my snakes had been often used and
handled, and had taken but little food, although in confinement from two to five
weeks. It was not to be expected that, under these circumstances, they should
prove as deadly as if they had been fresh, and were biting for the first time during
some weeks or months. I have thought proper to make this prefatory statement,
because it is well known that very often dogs have been destroyed in one, two, or
three minutes after the bite of a fresh animal.
The following experiments were selected from a series, made with the view of
establishing a rate of mortality, so as to compare the results with those obtained
when a supposed antidote was employed. They were made with care, the snakes
employed having been previously left undisturbed during a week.
With the defects which underlie this plan, so far as it has reference to antidotes,
70 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
we have here nothing to do, and the cases are quoted Only on account of their
value as such.
E'xperiment. — A large Spaniel, weighing sixteen and a half pounds, was muzzled,
and lowered into the box containing one large snake, which struck it fiercely in the
right fore-shoulder, and again, an instant afterwards, a little higher up. Upon a
careful removal of the haii', only one fang seemed to have acted in either wound.
The blows appeared to be excessively painful at the time, but upon removing the
dog at once, he gave no after signs of pain or distress. Within twenty-five minutes
he was languid, and remained standing with his head down, -as though sick and
confused. The local twitching about the wounds was highly marked, but there
was no general fremitus, and the respiration was only quickened a little, without
being either jerking or laborious. Daring the ensuing twenty-four hours, the dog
refused to eat, but drank at frequent intervals, and passed urine and clay-colored
stools. ■ He was able to move about, but preferred to remain at rest.
The wound was not swollen, but when examined with care, a slight hardening
of the neighboring tissues could be felt, extending two inches around the wound.
On pressui-e, a little bloody serum could be forced out of the fang track. This
continued to be the case during three days, when pus also flowed out. The local
evil was very limited, however, and the animal was so well on the ninth day, that
it Avas used for another purpose.
Experiment. — The dog employed in the last observation was pei'fectly well, and
eating and drinking as usual, when he was bitten in the left fore-shoulder, and in the
left hind leg below the knee. Both wounds swelled, that in the shoulder most. The
local fremitus was very remarkable, and extended up and down the hind leg, and
for some distance around the anterior wound. Although the dog whined at inter-
vals for some hours, and, to appearance, suffered considerably, the parts bitten soon
ceased to swell, and but little oozing took place from either wound. No suppura-
tion occurred, and the dog was entirely well within two days.
Experiment. — A black and white mongrel setter, weighing thirty pounds, was low-
ered into the cage. The only snake in the box struck him repeatedly, but without
seeming to cause much pain. Upon looking for the wounds none could be detected,
and the snake was, therefore, caught in the loop as usual, and held to the dog again,
until it bit eagerly. Still no wound beyond slight abrasions could be found, and on
the bitten skin lay adherent a large fang. On inspecting the snake's mouth, I
found that both ftings were recent, and not yet anchylosed in their maxillary sock-
ets. The snake's skin was loose, and was shed entire two days later. Two other
snakes were next caught and made to bite the hind leg and fore-shoulder of the
dog. The latter wound gave great pain, and the swelling extended to the neck
and chest. The local trembling was slight. There were no marked general symp-
toms, except a slight ineffectual effort to vomit, half an hour after being bitten, and
some evidence of general feebleness which passed off in five hours. Next day the
dog was well and active, eating and drinking as usual. He remained thus for ten
daj's, during which time the wounds grew smaller, and from that in the shoulder
oozed a little red serum, and finally some pus, but neither in this or in other cases
OF THE YENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 71
did the skin slough extensively. I found in most instances only a small orifice
leading into an abscess cavity, which was rarely above the size of a large walnut.
Experiment. — A white mongrel, weighing seventeen pounds, was placed in the cage
with a large snake. He was struck at once in the left hind thigh, and again by
the same serpent about three inches above the first wound. The dog suffered ter-
ribly, and during two hours whined and yelled incessantly. Enormous swell-
ing occurred, involving the whole limb up to the pelvic joint. Two hours after
being struck the dog was weak, but still kept his feet, and drank almost without
ceasing. His respiration was occasionally jerking, his heart as usual rapid but
feeble. No local or general fremitus was noted. At the third hour he was again
howling frightfully. The weakness was greater than before, and he staggered in
his gait, but the other symptoms were unchanged. Four and a half hours after
the poisoning, the dog became still weaker, ceased to drink, and finally lay down.
The parts wounded were still enlarging. At this time he vomited a little faod and
mucus, and soon after purged and urinated. From this time he began to mend, and
although he howled all the following night, he was able to run about the next day,
with only a slight appearance of lameness. The wound discharged blood, and at
length bloody pus, and finally pure pus, up to the period of recovery, three weeks
later. During the first week of this time, the dog took scarcely any food, and was
subject to profuse dysenteric discharges, so that he became remarkably emaciated.
From this condition he gradually improved, all the symptoms abated, and at the
end of the third week he was as fat as when first injured.
The cases here related are selected from a lai'ger number of a similar nature, all
illustrating the more or less grave character of the symptoms, and also the possi-
bility of recovery, even under apparently unfavorable circumstances. The next
case, and the last of this kind, I have placed alone, because it has especial value,
as showing how exceedingly grave may be the signs of poisoning, and yet how
rapid and complete may be the rally and escape.
Experiment. — A small brown terrier was struck twice on the fore leg and shoulder
by a large snake, which I held in the loop, as usual. Within ten minutes the
dog vomited, urinated, and passed solid feces. All this time he whined a good
deal, and finally, at the fifteenth minute, lay down on his side, breathing in jerks,
and twitching in almost every muscle. No fremitus could be seen at the wound,
owing, perhaps, to the swelling, which was great, and might readily have concealed
' it from view. An hour after being bitten, the dog had a slight convulsion, and
vomited again. Meanwhile I could scarcely feel the heart beat, and the respirations
were long and labored. On leaving this animal, late in the evening, and about
seven hours after he was hurt, he was lying on the floor, scarcely breathing, and
nearly pulseless. He had passed liquid and very dark stools, and some water. Even
at this period, his sensorium seemed unaffected, and he felt injuries, heard well, and
followed with his eyes the movements about him. To my surprise, when I entered
my laboratory the next morning, the dog ran by me and attempted to escape ; I
caught him with no little difficulty. His wound was like a hump on his side and
back, and discharged fluid blood in occasional drops. The floor of the box in which
72 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
I had left him contained a good deal of dark, semi-fluid excrement streaked with
blood, and he had drunk nearly the third of a bucket of water during the night.
The remaining instances of Crotalus bite in dogs were all flxtal, and were selected,
like the last series, as being the most illustrative records in my possession. It will
be observed, as I have already stated, that no deaths took place so early as to give
us perfect specimens of acute poisoning with absence of visceral lesions, and with
a perfectly red and coagulable blood. That such cases may occur in the dog, under
more 'favorable experimental conditions, I cannot doubt from what I have already
seen in other animals.
Experiment. — A dog of mongrel bull-terrier breed, weighing thirty-one pounds,
was lowered into the cage, where he was struck on the outside of the right hind leg
in the thigh. He drew up the leg when released, and whined for a few minutes.
The wound, which was double, bled a drop or two, and the muscles about it
twitched considerably at intervals for an hour, when this symptom was obscured
by the swelling. His pulse, which was naturally about 145 aiad irregular, was, at
the fifth minute, 140 and regular, respiration 35. At the fifteenth minute he lay
down, much weakened, pulse 160 and feeble, respiration 40. At the twentieth
minute the bowels moved loosely, with a gray discharge, and there seemed to be
some tenesmus in the rectum. Twenty-fifth minute, pupils so far natural and
mobile ; he could stand when urged, but lay down again at once, and was much
weaker. Forty-fifth minute, pulse 160, respiration 45 and laborious. Fifty-fifth
minute, loss of power in the hind legs. Eightieth minute, respiration quick and
labored, and so irregular as to make it impossible longer to count the heart pulses.
The eyes were natural, and followed my motions ; and he wagged his tail when
fondled. At this time the observation was temporarily interrupted, and, on its
resumption at the third hour, the dog was found dead. He had no foam about his
mouth, and probably died quietly.
P. M. Section. — The whole muscular and areolar tissue of the leg and thigh, half
way up and down the limb, was dark with infiltrated blood. About the wound
the swelling was due to a mass of blood partially coagulated. The extravasated
blood extended through the limb, and on the inside it passed half way up the
sartorius and adductors, and along the sheath of the vessels to within two inches
of the femoral ring. Nearly an inch of the sheath was clear of it, but one-half
inch below the ring the tissues were shaded with blood, and the same appearance
was seen around the ring itself. From this point the extravasation extended
under. the pei'itoneum, into the pelvis, and on to the inner face of the ilium. The
color of the tissues thus stained was a brilliant scarlet. The abdominal viscera were
healthy, except that the mucous membrane of the lower bowels was somewhat
congested. The lungs were sound. The heart was relaxed, the right side full,
the left nearly empty. The blood on the right side was a little darker than that
on the left; on both sides and everywhere else it was perfectly fluid and free from
clots. Placed in a vial, it remained fluid until decomposition ensued. Two hours
at least after death, some of the blood globules found in* the. heart were slightly
indented; those taken from the small vessels of the ear were perfectly normal. At
OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 73
the period of examination, the muscular and nervous irritability had entirely de-
parted.
Experiment. — A young dog, weighing nine and a half pounds, of terrier breed, was
lowered into a box containing a fresh snake. The snake struck at him twice
without effect, once striking to one side of the part aimed at, and the second time
miscalculating its distance. The third blow took effect, but I could not ascertain
the exact locality wounded. The dog cried out, as though in great pain. Within
five minutes he was trembling in every muscle. At the twentieth minute he was
so much better that I subjected him to a second bite, which took effect on the
neck in front, above the left shoulder. The dog at once lay down, then rose, and
passed water and solid feces, and, at the fifth minute from the second bite, fell on
his side, and vomited freely. The vomiting was instantly followed by general con-
vulsions, in which the limbs were extended and the head thrown back. Mean-
while, the heart was very feeble, the breathing laborious, and the pupil contracted.
The character of the respirations at this time was singular. Eight or ten rapid
respirations took place, and then none occurred until twenty seconds had elapsed.
The 'heart-beat, previously 180 to the minute, fell, at the fifteenth minute after the
second wound, to 80, and became remarkably feeble. At the seventeenth minute
the respiration stopped, and the heart pulse, though so weak as to be counted with
difficulty, rose to 156, falling again, at the twenty-fourth minute, to 58, when it
became indistinct through weakness. The pupils rapidly dilated.
P. M. Section was delayed twenty-four hours. Post-mortem rigor came on first
about the fore legs and neck, and was complete four hours after death. It was so
strong as to snap a small cord with which I had drawn the legs of the dog apart.
The wound was the seat of an extravasation which had passed over the shoulder
and on to the neck. The vessels near it were filled with dark and difiluent blood.
The muscles near the wound were softened and readily torn. The heart contained
an abundance of blood chiefly fluid, with a number of small clots of very loose
structure, in the right side and somewhat less in the left cavities. In the pericar-
dium there was about an ounce and a half of bloody serum. The abdominal organs
were healthy, and the peritoneum contained only a little straw-colored serum.
The bladder was partially contracted, and held an ounce or two of slightly albu-
minous urine.
The bra.in was normally firm, though somewhat congested, and its vessels were
distended with fluid blood and a few bubbles of gas. At the side of the long sinus
a little blood seemed to have soaked through all the membranes to the bone, but
there was no large quantity of blood present at this spot, and no coagulum. It
looked like a post-mortem stain.
Experiment. — A white dog, weight nineteen and a half pounds, of unknown or
mixed breed, was exposed for a special purpose, to be bitten by several snakes, all of
whom had used their fangs or been robbed of venom within four days. The dog was
hit at least six times, and perhaps received some wounds which escaped notice.
.Those found on removing the skin were in the neck and face, fore-shoulders and
hind legs. There were absolutely no marked symptoms in this case, except increas-
ing weakness, and consequent vomiting. The bowels also were moved and water
10
74 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
was passed. The breathing then became jerking and labored. The fremitus, at
first locahzed in some of the bites, soon became general, until it disappeared before
the profound debility, which seemed to affect the entire economy. Three hours
after the poisoning the animal died without convulsions. At the moment of the
infliction of the wounds, there certainly was great pain, but at no time afterwards
was this sensation expressed. Until near death, the cerebral functions appeared to
preserve their integrity, so that the dog wagged his tail on being patted, and even
followed with his head the motions of the flies which hovered over him. The
numerous bites were really the most formidable lesions found after death. Around
them, in each case, was an irregular circle of extravasated fluid blood. None of
them, however, were much swollen, although the amount of blood spread out in
their layers and soaked into the muscles must have been considerable. Except
some congestion of the vessels of the brain and its membranes, there was no morbid
appearance in any viscus. The right heart was full of fluid blood. The left heart
also contained more blood than usual, and its color was a little brighter than that
of the other side.
Experiment. — A white mongrel bitch, weighing fifteen pounds, was put in the
cage with a lai'ge snake, which had not used its fangs for ten daj's. The snake
struck the animal with both fangs just above the eye, and again, after some teasing,
on the inside of the thigh high up. This latter wound gave great pain, and the
bitch, when lifted from the box, yelled and whined during several minutes. On
examination, it was found that only one fang had taken efi'ect in the thigh. Around
this was a growing circle of flattened swelling, of which the dark color was easily
seen through the skin, which in this place was white and yery delicate. During half
an hour the animal stood on her feet, her head hanging a little, and blood running
so freely from the wound in the thigh, that an ounce or two may have been thus
lost within an hour of the period of the bite. At the close of the half hour the
bitch suddenly staggered, and fell on her side, then rose and again fell. The
heart, which before the poisoning was 154, rose immediately after the bite to 175,
stimulated, perhaps, by pain and terror. When the animal fell the pulse was
about 160, and irregular and feeble. After this, its force diminished gradually, but
the rhythm changed very little until just before death, when it fell rapidly. An
hour after the bite, the animal still lay on her side making efforts to vomit. Upon
lifting her up she succeeded in vomiting a little mucus. At this time she also
passed a loose stool, and soon after lying down again, made water freely. The
urine ran over a board on which the dog lay. A little of it drawn up with a
pipette, proved to be acid and to contain no albumen. One hour and twenty
minutes after the poisoning, the head was suddenly thrown back, the pupils con-
tracted and the limbs extended, although not violently. At the close of this
momentary convulsion, the bitch drew a long breath and expired.
P. M. Section. — The wound was a good deal swollen, and contained some loosely-
clotted blood, and much more that was quite fluid, and so continued upon removal.
The tissues in the track of the fang were only a little softened, but the thigh was
literally soaked with blood down to the periosteal membrane, which was darkly
stained. The other wound was but little swollen. The brain was apparently
OF THE VE^TQM OF THE R ATT LESIST AKE. 75
healthy. The lungs were normal, the pericardium contained a little bloody serum,
the heart was marked over the right ventricle with three star-like spots of ecchy-
mosis, and a little ribbon of extravasated blood ran along each side of several of
the smaller coronary veins.
The abdominal organs were healthy, and the intestines the seat of active move-
ment. The extravasation in the thigh extended up through the femoral ring, and
over the brim of the pelvis, so that the areolar tissues between the left side of the
bladder and the pelvic bones were filled with fluid blood. The heart had ceased
to beat when the animal was examined, but it acted for a few seconds when gal-
vanized, and was locally and feebly irritable for half an hour. The muscles were
excitable during about the same time, and the diaphragm a little longer. The
sciatic nerves responded during thirteen minutes, and the phrenic nerves during
twenty-eight minutes.
Experiment. — A small brown dog, weighing twelve pounds, was struck with both
fangs by two snakes, one biting him on the muzzle, and one on the side. The
wound on the side did not swell, that on the flank formed within two hours a
prominent, almost pendulous mass, several inches long and wide. Within ten
minutes this animal became feeble and reeled about, as if giddy. At length he
lay down on his side, breathing heavily. The muscles about the flank wound
twitched a good deal at first, and the general fremitus was well marked within
thirty minutes. It passed ofi" after half an hour longer, only recurring at intervals.
Meanwhile the dog lay quiet, and although evidently sensible of surrounding
objects, seemed in no pain. The heart-beat, which, after the bite, was strong and
rapid, became scarcely perceptible to the hand. At the time the dog lay down,
he passed urine and solid feces, but did not attempt to vomit. After lying thus
for five hours he died quietly.
P. M. Section. — The wound on the flank presented the usual appearance. The
skin beyond the bitten nostril was pufiy and tumid, the nostrils exuding bloody
mucus. All the thoracic organs were normal, the heart as usual, the right side
full of fluid blood, with some loose dark clots, the left side almost empty. Else-
where the organs were healthy, excepting the kidneys, which were full of blood,
and presented the appearance of acute congestion. On further inspection, a long
thin clot was found in the left ureter, and bloody urine in the bladder below.
Brain not examined.
The cases above reported represent so well the character of the pathological
lesions in mortal cases of Crotalus bite, that it would be needless to intrude 'them
upon these pages in larger number.
76 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
CHAPTER VII.
ACTION OF THE VENOM ON THE TISSUES AND FLUIDS.
In this section, the subject of absorption, hitherto deferred, naturally presents
itself at the outset.
The most important of the questions raised in this connection, regards -the power
of the stomach to absorb the venom of serpents, a question to which Eedi^ gave a
negative reply, founded on the experiments of his viper catcher, and upon one of
his own on a kid, to which he gave internally the venom of four vipers. Fontana,^
on the other hand, took the affirmative, owing to a single experiment on a pigeon,
down the throat of which he poured nearly thirty drops of venom, killing it thus
in six minutes.^
Prof. Mangili* has since repeated these experiments, and arrived at the conclu-
sion that the venom of the viper is harmless, when taken internally. These results
were founded on the most satisfactory data, and leave no room to doubt that the
venom is innocuous when thus administered. Before and since his experiments,
many observers have been found bold enough to taste, and even to swallow, the
venom of serpents. Thus, Mead and his assistants tasted the venom of the viper,
EusselP tasted the poison of the Cobra, but does not seem to have swallowed it,
although he has credit in some of the books for having done so.
In our own country, experience upon this matter is limited. Harlan/ who gave
the venom internally to a single young dog, without effect, and Jeter,' who states
that when given to fasting cats and dogs, it causes sickness, and is followed by the
usual consequences of snake bite, are the only authorities, if we except an extra-
ordinary statement made by Burnett' upon the authority of another person, whose
^ Francis Redi, Nobilis Aretini Experimenta. Amstelodami, IGYS. Ex. Italieo Latinate Donata,
p. 14. .
Also, Celsus, who says of the venom of snakes, " Non gustu, sed in vulnere nocent ;" and Lucan before
Mm, puts into the mouth of Cato " Morsu virus habent, et fatum dente minantur ; pocula morte
carent." Fontana, vol. ii. p. 323.
= Fontana, vol. ii. f). 321.
3 Foutana had previously arrived at the negative eonclusioa from experiments upon dogs, who took,
however, very small doses. Vol. i. p. 58.
« Mangili, quoted in Orfila, Tox. Gen., vol. ii. p. 852, from 'II Giornale di Fisica Chemica, etc. Vol.
ix. p. 458 (ISl*?).
= Russell, p. 63.
« Harlan, Physiological Researches, p. 501.
7 Jeter, p. 20.
* Burnett, Proc. Boston See. of Nat. Hist., vol. iv. p. 323,
OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 77
imaginative powers must have been of the strongest. Other native authors state
that the poison has this or that taste, but do not directly assert that they have
acquired such knowledge by personal experiments.
I have already stated that I found the venom tasteless. I did not venture to
swallow it, feeling no inclination to repeat the rash acts of the servants of Fontana
and Eedi.
As regards the question of absorption by a mucous surface, I once saw incident-
ally made, a rather curious experiment to which I have already referred.
A large Crotalus swallowed a mouthful of its own venom, but, although watched
for several weeks, it seemed to have suffered no ill consequences.
From the experiments of Harlan, Mangili, Russell, Davy and others, it seems to
be sufficiently proved that the unbroken mucous surface of the mouth has no
power to absorb the venom of serpents, and that the stomach also is incapable of
admitting this poison to the system in any form possessing noxious properties.
Circumstances interfered to prevent me from extending my experiments on ab-
sorption to the length which I contemplated, but I hope to resume them at a future
period. I have, however, performed two experiments upon pulmonary absorption,
which possess so much interest that it would scarcely be proper to omit them.
Experiment. — A large pigeon was placed between my knees and somewhat com-
pressed so as partially to empty the lungs. At this moment a small tube, well rounded
and with an opening on the side near the end, was thrust carefully through the glottis
and down into the trachea. As soon as the tube was in place I blew into its upper
orifice, thus discharging into the trachea its entire contents, consisting of about
two drops of venom with a little water. This manoeuvre, suddenly followed by
relaxation of the pressure on the respiratory organs of the bird, secured the passage
of the venom into the smaller bronchi, and perhaps even into the air- vesicles them-
selves. A good deal of wheezing and coughing ensued, and within ten minutes
the pigeon became drowsy, rocked to and fro, and at the close of thirty-eight
minutes fell down. Convulsions followed at the forty-third minute, and terminated
in death at the forty-ninth.
P. M. Section. — The heart was still irritable and contained a little loosely
clotted blood on both sides. No lesions were visible, except in the lungs, both of
which contained large extravasations of dark blood soaked through their tissues to ■
such an extent as to make it impossible to say, whether or not, it was fluid or
coagulated.
Exjjeriment. — Another pigeon was treated in the same manner as the one last
described, except that the venom used was three weeks old, and amounted to two
drops. Death, without precedent convulsions, took place at the close of eight and
a half hours. The blood was diffluent in every locality examined, and the left
lung contained a large extravasation of dark blood.
The above cases render it probable that the delicate lung tissue offers no perma-
nent barrier to the passage of the venom. There is, however, a possibility of
fallacy in these experiments, and it is still desirable that they should be repeated
on a larger scale, and on higher animals.
The Wound. — The wound made by the fang sometimes penetrates half an inch,
78 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
but is oftener more superficial. So far as a fatal result is concerned, it seems to be
indiffereut, whether the bite takes place about the head and neck, or in the limbs.^
The local quivering which is so common, seems to depend upon the muscles of the
part having been wounded and envenomed, whereas, when the venom enters
only the ai'eolar or adipose tissue, this symptom either does not occur at all, or
occurs only after a time. The swelling, which in a large majority of cases sur-
rounds the wound, is never inflammatory in the first instance, at least in animals,
and especially in those which die, and in which the rapidly increasing loss of tones
forbids the presence of such a condition. In some of the animals who recover,
secondary inflammation and gangrene, with more or less formation of pus may
ensue. The primary swelling, then, is always due to a collection of blood, some-
times partially coagulated, at others perfectly fluid, and apt to leak drop by drop,
out of the open fang track, when the opening is large, and the part bitten is highly
vascular.
The effusion of blood in such large quantities as sometimes takes place, is ex-
plained by the rapidity with which its fibrin undergoes destruction at high tempe-
ratures (100° F.), and in the presence of such amounts of venom as are occasionally
injected. Under these circumstances the usual arrest of hemorrhage by coagulation
of the fibrin of the blood fails to take place, and the incoagulable blood soaks
through all the neighboring tissues.
In other instances, as we have seen, the blood about the wound clots, owing
either to the relatively small amount of venom present, or to the fact of a sudden
and great escape of blood from some vessel of larger size than is usually punctured
by the fang. In no case are the clots thus formed of very firm texture."
The veins about the wound are commonly found to be filled with dark and un-
coagulable blood, so that the effect here described, is exerted not only upon the
effused fluid, but also upon that which is still retained within the vessels.
Effect of the Venom on the Muscles. — The influence of the venom upon the muscles
of the wounded part has been already described. It appears to be due to the direct
action of the venom upon the sarcous elements.
As I supposed it possible, however, that the mere puncture might be competent
to cause protracted local quivering, I punctured exposed muscles, with dry fangs,
previously boiled, and then stopped with wax. Slight twitches followed, but no
further results were visible. When, on the other hand, I exposed the living muscle
and moistened it with venom, the twitcliing took place as usual, while, when the
venom was injected through the fang into the interior of the muscle, the convulsive
quivering was yet more active and prolonged. To ascertain whether or not this
was due to direct stimulation of the muscular tissue, or to an indirect influence
first affecting the nerves of the part, I executed the following experiment: —
■^ Unless the mere swelling destroys life, or the poison be deposited near a large vessel.
" It is said that the pig is not liable to die from Crotalus bite, and it is well known that it attacks the
Rattlesnake with vigor and -success. Its comparative immunity may, possibly, be due to the fact that its
skin is very thick and tough, and that the large deposit of sub-cuticular adipose tissue is scantily supplied
with bloodvessels. Notwithstanding this, I am assured upon competent authority, that when the pig is
struck in thin and vascular parts it enjoys no peculiar privilege.
OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 79
Experiment. — A large frog was poisoned with woorara. This active agent
possesses the power to paralyze the motor nerves, and to leave the muscles in a
highly irritable state.'^ The animal was thus placed in the same condition as though
the whole motor nervous system .had been removed by dissection, without serious
injury to the remaining parts. It was found that in a frog so prepared, and in
which the motor nerves no longer responded to irritants, the muscles still quivered
as long as usual when bitten by the snake, so that I felt free to infer that this
interesting local phenomenon was in reality due to the direct influence of the
venom upon the ultimate sarcous elements.
After a few minutes, or at the utmost, half an hour, these spasmodic movements
cease ; but without entirely exhausting the irritability of the muscles, which will,
sometimes, continue to respond to other stimulants until their structure is more
profoundly altered by the continued action of the venom. The quivering often
extends to the whole muscular system, but although a frequent, this is not an in-
variable symptom, and is liable, in dogs, to be confounded with the fremitus of
terror, to which they are very subject. It is in them a more common symptom of
the poisoning than it is in rabbits, while in birds the general quivering is very
rarely met with.
The influence of the venom upon the duration of muscular irritability I have
examined in many animals, but especially in frogs. Many of these observations
were made in very hot weather, but were finally resumed, in the early autumn
under more favorable conditions for the preservation of the muscular functions.
Both in the cases of acute and of chronic poisoning, the muscular irritability of
the frog was lost earlier than is usual in other modes of death.
Notwithstanding this result, the property in question was perfect at the time of
the death, and for a short space afterwards, especially in acute cases, while, in some
rare instances, it survived in the chin muscles during twenty-four hours.
The muscular irritability of the warm-blooded animals left them very rapidly,
but was often so well marked at, or just after, death, as to forbid us to refer the
death to the loss of muscular irritability as the immediate, or even the remote
cause.
Rigor Mortis. — The action of the venom did not seem to prevent the occurrence of
the sti'ongest rigor mortis. It came on in different animals at varying periods, but,
so far as I have observed, was never entirely absent in any case. Even when the
blood was perfectly diffluent, this post-mortem phenomenon was noted, a fact iDliicli
should utterly forhid us tn connect its occurrence with the coagidation of the blood, as
was at one time a not uncommon opinion.
Ultimate Effect of Venom on Muscles. — The final influence of venom upon the
muscular structure was extremely curious. In every instance it softened it in pro-
portion to the length of the time during which it remained in contact with it, so
that after even a few hours in warm-blooded animals, and after a rather longer
time in the frog, the wounded muscle became almost diffluent, and assumed a dark
' CI. Beruard, Legons sur les eifets des substances tosiques et medicamenteuses. Bailliere et fils.
Paris, 1857, p. 239 et seq.
80
PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
color aud somewhat jelly-like appearance. The structure remained entire until it
was pressed upon or stretched, when it lost all regularity, and offered the appear-
ance under the microscope of a minutely granular mass, dotted with larger gra-
nules. The altered character of the muscle is illustrated in Fig. 12.
Fiff. 12.
Appearance of muscular fibre wlien mechanically disturbed after contact with venom.
Effect on the Heart. — Continuing the study of the action of the venom on muscu-
lar parts, it remains to examine the extent to which the heart is influenced.
This question is one of extreme interest, and of no less difficulty. It is so
important, however, in its bearings upon the causation of death in acute poisoning,
that I have spared no pains to investigate it by every means in my power.
My first observations were made by exposing the heart of the frog, and observing
it before and after the animal was bitten. Many of these observations failed par-
tially, or entirely, owing to the frogs having survived long enough to pass into the
stage of secondary poisoning.
In most of the cases of acute poisoning the rhythm and force of the heart became
affected before the respiration was suspended, and the organ continued to pulsate
more or less perfectly for some time after all voluntary and reflex motion had
ceased.
It is scarcely requisite to detail these observations more fully, since examples
may be found in the chapter which treats of the action of the venom on the
batrachia. I shall therefore limit myself to stating that, under the influence of
Crotalus venom the batrachian heart becomes enfeebled, and acts more slowly ;
that it continues to act after the limbs have ceased to respond to stimulus by reflex
acts, and that it usually stops before the motor nerves lose their vitality.
As the heart of the frog is remarkably independent of the respiratory and other
OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 81
functions, and as, moreover, it will beat longer, when cut out and suspended, than
it usually does when subjected in its normal situation to the influence of the venom,
it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that it is more or less directly affected by it.
It seemed to me equally plain, however, that it was not owing to the arrest of the
heart that the animal died. In fact, the heart continued to act after some of the
principal nervous functions, such as reflex acts, were over, so that their loss was
not due to an arrested cii'culation.
The study of the effect of venom on the hearts of warm-blooded animals was
one of still greater difficulty. This arose from the fact that their functions are
more closely related to one another, so that the cessation of respiration necessarily
leads to loss of cardiac power, and vice versa; since, however, the determination of
the question before us was essential to a proper study of the remedies for venom
poisoning, I felt forced to continue my researches in this direction, notwithstanding
the obstacles in my path.
As in the frog, I began by a series of simple observations upon the changes in
the heart which were apparent to the eye. For this purpose, I opened the chests
of rabbits sufficiently to obtain a view of the heart, the action of which was sus-
tained during the experiment by artificial respiration.
Experiment. — Small male rabbit; pulse 280; respiration 120. Struck at 12
o'clock, 32 minutes, in the right flank. The animal fell in two minutes. Artifi-
cial respiration was at once used, and, owing to want of caution, the right lung
was torn, and the diaphragm ruptured. The chest was then opened. The heart
was acting very rapidly, and pretty well up to the thirteenth minute, when its
rhythm became disturbed, the right and left cavities acting separately. The
respiration was continued, with brief intervals, up to the sixty-third minute, when
the auricles alone responded, and the observation terminated.
Experiment. — Small black female rabbit. A string was placed under the trachea.
The heart beat too rapidly for numei'ation. Bitten thrice in the side by a small
snake at 6.15 P.M. Fourth minute, pupils contracting. Fifth minute, head
falling. Seventh minute, slight general convulsions ; respiration feeble and labor-
ing. Tenth minute, slight convulsions ; pupils dilated. Twelfth minute, respira-
tion stopped, and a tube being placed in the trachea, regular artificial respiration
was accomplished while the chest was opened, and the heart exposed. At first, the
heart beat regularly, but not very strongly. At the eighteenth minute, its rhythm
became altered, two auricular contractions talcing place during each ventricular act.
At the twenty-second minute, the organ was acting very feebly, the auricles alone
beating, and the respiration was therefore discontinued.
Experiment. — Small male rabbit. In this case, the artificial respiration was
made before the natural movement was over, about forty-four minutes after the
bite was inflicted. No convulsions were observed. Although the artificial respira-
tion was admirably sustained, the rhythm of the heart became disturbed within
twelve minutes, the auricles' beating twice as fast as the ventricles. Before this
occurred, the heart acted well, except that it did not seem to possess the energy
which it usually does under other circumstances.
Experiment. — Large male rabbit. The trachea was prepared as usual, except
11
82 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
that a tube of sufficient size was placed in it before the bite, so that no time might
be lost.
The animal was struck twice in the left thigh at 4.20 P. M. At the seventh
minute it fell, and at the thirtieth minute, the respiration being very feeble, artificial
respiration was made, and the chest opened. The heart was acting well, but not
perfectly, the same want of completeness in its systole being seen as was noticed in
former cases. At the close of the sixtieth minute from the time of the bite, the
organ became more markedly feeble, and the ventricles acted but rarely. In this,
as in all other like observations, the heart remained irritable to galvanism for a
short time after it ceased to pulsate, and locally responsive for a still longer period.
It was plain enough from these experiments that the artificial respiration was
capable of prolonging the cardiac functions, but not usually for any great length of
time. Moreover, the heart was- always found beating in animals poisoned, and
opened as soon as respiration ceased. Again, its tissues were always alive to
stimulus for a short period after its rhythmic movements stopped, so that there
was evidently no such complete local paralysis of the muscular structures as is
caused by upas-antiar or corroval. When an animal is poisoned with these last-
mentioned substances, death begins at the heart ; and so complete is the palsy of
this organ, that the most violent galvanic stimulus fails to provoke in it the least
response, even when applied immediately after it has ceased to pulsate rhythmically.^
These views were strengthened by the following experiment : Being aware that
the young of warm-blooded animals approximate to the condition of cold-blooded
creatures, in regard to the comparative independence of their cardiac and respira-
tory functions, I exposed several kittens of a week old to be bitten. As soon as
respiration ceased their hearts were laid bare, and found to be beating quite
actively. Thus, in one case, the kitten was bitten thrice, by as many rather ex-
hausted snakes, between three minutes of six, and eleven minutes after six.
At 6.19 P. M. sensation was gone in the limbs; and at 6.23, all motion ceased,
except occasional diaphragmatic acts. At 6.25, the dorsal spine was divided, and
no movement took place, the left sciatic remaining perfectly irritable. During this
time the heart continued to act regularly, and at 6.44, was still able to respond to
stimulus by feeble, but repeated pulses; one stimulation being followed by three
or four complete pulsations.
In all human cases of Crotalus poisoning, the general feebleness which follows a
severe bite is most notable. As we have seen, there is reason to believe that at
least a part of this deadly prostration may be due to an effect on the heart, while
on the whole, there is not reason to suppose that its tissues are so paralyzed as to
permit us to assert that death begins at the cardiac centre.
As it was possible that I might be deceived as to the appearance of lack of power
in the heart, I subjected the matter to more accurate examination. For this pur-
pose, I instituted the following experiments : —
Experiment. — A large brindled dog was properly secured on the table, and his
^ See a paper on new varieties of woorara by Prof. Hammond and the author, Amer. Jour, of the
Med. Sci., July, 1859.
OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 83
right femoral artery laid bare. The brass nozzle of M. Bernard's cardiometer^ was
tied fast in the vessel, and the blood allowed to act on the column of mercury.
At 4 o'clock, 58 minutes, the pulse being 99, and the respiration 21, the constant
pressure in the artery was found to be represented by eighty millimetres of the
column of mercury, which at every heart beat rose to 115 millimetres.
The following record was then obtained : —
Constant arterial Rising at each
Time. pressure. heart beat to Difference.
4.58 to 5.14 SO-"" IIS-^ 35™
A clot forming, the column ceased to move. The tube was cleansed and replaced at
5.16, when again a clot formed, and the artery was tied, and the left carotid laid bare. On
inserting the tube in this latter vessel, the record was as follows : —
5.58 110 145 35
6
6.1 One large snake was allowed to bite the dog's left thigh. The dog struggled, and the mus-
cles about the wound quivered remarkably.
6.4| 105 120 15
Respiration perfect as yet. Heart pulse 115, respiration 22.
6.6 95 115 • 20
6.7 Pulse beats 120, respiration somewhat laborious.
6.9 102 120 18
6.10 105 115 10
A clot having formed, the tube was again removed, cleaned, and replaced.
6.19 85 105 15
6.20 87 109 - . 22
6.21 85 110 25
At this time a clot formed, and as some blood was lost in replacing the tube, the
observation terminated. The artery was tied, and the dog set at liberty. He was
very sick for two or three days, but finally recovered, surviving the ligation of two
arteries, and the bite of the snake.
Experiment. — A yellow mongrel of middle size was secured as usual. About two
ounces of blood were lost while placing the tube in the carotid. At 5 o'clock,
30 minutes, the column rose to 114 millimetres, and at each heart beat to 127
millimetres, so that 13 millimetres represented the heart force.
These figures remaining the same during two minutes, and the respirations being
26, and tranquil, the dog was bitten by three snakes, so as to be the more profoundly
affected.
* The cardiometer consists of a vessel, about three inches high, and of the same diameter. A glass
tube, with a scale of millimetre divisions, passes down to the bottom of the vessel, and is open at both
ends. A second tube opens through the top of the vessel into its interior, and is provided with a stop-
cock. To its nozzle is attached a short caoutchouc tube, which is tenninated by a brass tube,_ made to
fit the artery selected for trial. The main vessel is now filled with mercury up to 0 of the scale. The
caoutchouc tube is next filled with a strong solution of carbonate of soda, and secured in the artery.
The stopcock being turned, the mercury rises to a point which marks the height of a column of mercury
capable of being sustained by the constant pressure under which the blood circulates in the arteries. At
each heart beat, and at each deep expiration, the column rises a little, to fall anew, as the increased pres-
sure thus exerted is removed.
84 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
Constant arterial Eising at each
Time. pressure. lieart beat to Difference.
5.34 94"" 110™ 16™
5.35 95 110 10
Pulse 138. The respiration was now laborious, at each expiratiou the column rising 27"".
5.36 93 9T • 4
Respiration irregular.
5.3T 92 95 3
5.38i 85 .90 5
Respiration but 12 in the minute.
5.48 Clots formed, and the tube was replaced.
5.49i 10 . 72 or 73
The heart pressure was now so slight, that I feared lest a clot might exist in the trunk of
the artery, and therefore repeated the observations on the femoral artery, which gave at —
6.10 50 54 4
rising in deep expiration to —
67
6.15 53 56 3
Still doubtful as to the correctness of the observation, I allowed a small jet of blood to
escape, and having thus made sure of the absence of clot, replaced the tube, and at once
marked at —
6.21 53 56 3
The respiration was now labored and slow, the pulse being about 190.
At 6.23, the artery was cut across, and the dog allowed to bleed to death.
Despite the slow and embarrassed breathing, the blood ran red from the divided
vessel. It clotted very well in three to five minutes. The effect of the venom on
the force of the heart is well seen in the above stated experiments. In them, and
in other like observations, the power of the ventricular systole diminished very
rapidly soon after the bite, and at the same time, or just afterwards, the general
loss of tone was strikingly indicated by the diminution of the independent arterial
pi'essure. In the first case, the animal rallied from the early effect of the venom,
and the heart force increased, although not so much as to regain completely its
primary power. The cases just stated were selected from a series of seven similar
experiments, which I do not think it requisite to quote at length. In all of them
the results were the same in kind, although varying somewhat in degree.
In most of these cases, the heart suffered somewhat before respiration was enfeebled
or visibly altered. But it was possible that the respiration might be embarrassed,
and yet not in so marked a manner as to betray itself to the eye. I thought it likely
that by destroying the normal respiratory influence, and sustaining the heart by
insuflSation, I might be able to place the cardiac organ in a condition which would
render it independent of any possible influence from the pulmonary organs.
At first, I attempted to attain this end by cutting both pneumogastric nerves, and
thus destroying the main channels through which impressions originating in the
lungs are conveyed to the heart. My first experiments failed, owing to my having
used young dogs in whom the section of both nerves above the point at which the
recurrent laryngeal nerves are given off, never fails to cause asphyxia by collapse
of the lips of the larynx. To guard against this result, which, even in older ani-
mals, embarrasses the respiration, I placed a tube in the trachea, before dividing
the nerve trunks. The respiratory acts became immediately very deep and laboi'ed.
OF THE VENOM OP THE RATTLE S If AKE. 85
and, as usual, the heart began to beat with excessive rapidity, but with such feeble-
ness as to raise the mercurial column in the cardiometer only five or six milli-
metres at each systole. With so feeble a beat it would have been difficult to
estimate any such slight increment of feebleness as. might at first be produced by
the venom. Eeluctantly, therefore, this method, which had promised so much, was
abandoned. I finally succeeded by resorting to the method detailed in the follow-
ing cases, which I have chosen for record here, as being sufficiently illustrative of
the series to which they belong.
Ea:periment. — A small black and yellow cur-bitch was secured as usual. The
pulse was 140 ; respiration 29. The trachea was opened, and a tube placed in it.
Next, the medulla oblongata was destroyed by pithing, during which about four
ounces of blood were lost. Kespiration instantly ceased, and the heart-pulse rose
to 160. Artificial respiration was now made about forty times in the minute.
The femoral artery was opened, and the cardiometer tube fitted in it, and secured
at 5.20 P. M. The constant of arterial pressure was sixty millimetres, the heart
beat raising the column from six to twenty millimetres. During three or four
minutes these numbers remained about the same, and accordingly a standard of
comparison having thus been attained, the dog was bitten twice in three minutes
by two snakes of large size. In the next two minutes, the column fluctuated be-
tween sixty-seven and seventy-five millimetres, thus giving but eight millimetres
to represent the heart force. The change was so notable, that my assistants sup-
posed a clot might be forming, and the tube was therefore removed, cleansed, and
replaced. It was perfectly patent, and the artery was unobstructed.
Six minutes after the bite, the constant was forty millimetres, with ten milli-
metres of rise at each systole. At the eighth minute, the constant was thirty mil-
limetres, the rise fifteen millimetres. This was, however, the maximum, and
usually the heart force was but four to five millimetres. The constant was now
rapidly falling. The heart beat very irregularly, never raising the mercury above
twelve millimetres. There was usually one strong pulsation, and then four feeble
ones, of two to four millimetres.
The quivering about the wound continued very remarkable throughout the obser-
vation. Upon studying this case, it appeared that the heart and the constant of
arterial pressure were both affected very early, but I was not disposed to regard all
the ultimate effects as due to the venom. In a case so removed from normal phy-
siological conditions, and so surrounded with causes of depression, it was only
possible to draw an inference from the occurrences of the first few minutes after
the introduction of a new element — the bite of the snake.
Additional observations, similar to that just recorded, went equally to show
that the heart loses power in the first stage of Crotalus poisoning, and that the
constant arterial pressure undergoes a rapid and singular diminution. Considera-
tions above stated, would have induced me to question still more rigidly the results
of experiments of so complicated a nature, were it not that they are so well sup-
ported by all the preceding evidence, and by the numerous records of symptoms in
cases of venom poisoning in man.
It is proper to add that in some instances of death, in rabbits, for example, arti-
86 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
ficial respiration failed almost totally to sustain the cardiac power ; but even in
these the heart i-emained irritable to direct stimulus, and there was consequently
no such thorough paralysis of the sarcous elements as is seen in some other
poisonings.
Action of Venom on the Capillary System. — The experiments on the heart force
furnish incidental information as to the absence of capillary irritation from the
presence of venom in the circulation.
John Eeid, of Edinburgh, has very well shown in his experiments on asphyxia
that when black blood, or any other stimulant, enters the capillaries, the arterial
pi'essure increases largely, as is proved by the rise of the mercury in the cardio-
meter. No such increase of pressure followed the introduction of venom into the
system, and we may therefore infer that it exerts no very marked influence of this
kind upon the vessels in question.
In frogs, poisoned by venom, the capillary circulation is unaltered, until the heart
itself becomes too feeble to sustain it.
When the frog's foot is placed under the microscope, and wetted with venom, no
change occurs, because the skin refuses to admit the poison. If we attempt to
introduce it into the web through a wound, the mechanical irritation produced by
the instrument so affects the local circulation as to baffle the observer completely.
Action of the Venom upon the Intestinal Movements. — The motions of the intestinal
canal were unaffected by Crotalus poisoning, and in all cases were as active as after
other modes of death.
Action of the Venom ripon Ciliary Movement. — In a number of cases of acute and
chronic poisoning, I examined the" cilia from the mucous membrane of the throat of
the frog. Their activity -appeared to be undisturbed in both forms of the malady.
Action of the Venom on the Nervous System. Direct Effects of Venom on Nerve
Trunks. — The older observers had already shown that the direct contact of venom
and nerve matter produced no early local paralysis of the nerve thus treated. I
have repeated and modified these experiments, making use of the venom of the
Crotalus.
Experiment. — The leg of a frog, prepared as if for use for a galvanoscope, was
placed in a wide test-tube, and the long sciatic nerve laid upon a glass slide. Upon
applying gentle mechanical or galvanic irritants to the nerve trunk, the muscles of
the leg moved freely. A drop of pure venom was then let fall on the nerve, along
which it ran by capillary attraction, so as to wet about one-third of an inch of its
length. At the close of ten minutes the nerve still reacted well. In a second case
treated in the same way, but subjected to rather more of the venom, the nerve
acted well after eighteen minutes ; and in a third nerve similarly situated, irrita-
bility was excellent at the close of thirty-two minutes.
In a second series of experiments, the same conclusion was reached by. another
route.
Experiment. — A large frog was chosen, and the right sciatic nerve isolated in
almost half an inch of its course. A little gutter of wax was slipped under the
nerve, and a rather thin solution of venom in water applied to the nerve trunk
during five minutes. The wax groove, in which lay the nerve, served to retain
OF THE YENOM OP THE RATTLESNAKE. 8T
the venom in contact with its exterior. At the close of seven minutes the leg still
moved with ease, when the frog's body was irritated. The nerve was then incised
lengthwise, and a little pure venom dropped within the slit and on the nerve.
A minute amount of moisture being applied to the nerve, with the aid of a
camel's hair brush, from time to time, it was found to carry irtipressions to or from
the nerve centres quite well at the end of an hour. On irritating the right foot,
both legs were moved freely, and on irritating the unwounded left leg, a like result
was observed. When released, the frog leaped about, using both legs with ease
and activity. Twenty-four hours later it was still able to use both legs, although
the muscles about the wounded part were softened by the venom, a change which
had not visibly acted on the nerve trunk. The frog finally recovered. Upon
several occasions, as opportunity offered, I repeated these experiments, but without
arriving at any other conclusion than that the venom exerted no early action upon
the vital properties of nerves to which it was applied.
Action of the Venom upon the Sensory and Motor Nerves, and upon the Nerve
Centres. — In the conduct of this portion of my research, I endeavored to ascertain
which order of nerves was first aifected by the venom. For this purpose,
Experiment. — I tied the left femoral artery of a frog high up, and then had the
frog bitten in the back by two snakes. At the seventy-sixth minute all motion,
voluntary and reflex, had ceased. On galvanizing the right sciatic nerve, no reflex
acts ensued, but the muscles of the right leg moved as freely as those of the other
limb, which I had insulated from the effects of the venom by cutting off its circu-
lation. The motor nerves were therefore unaffected. If the sensory nerves and
the centres had been also capable of transmitting impressions, and responding to
them, there would have been reflex movements produced.
Numerous repetitions of this experiment convinced me that either the sensory
nerves had lost their powers, or that the nerve-centres were at fault. This question
was set at rest by the following means : —
Experiment. — A frog was poisoned, and as soon as all movement was over except
that of the heart, the spine was divided, and a probe thrust up and down. No
motion resulted. The irritability of the motor nerves in the sciatic trunk was next
tested, and found to be nearly perfect.
The loss of nervous function begins, then, at the centres ; and such being the
case, we cannot infer logically that the sensory nerves are paralyzed, but only that
they have no longer any means of expressing their sensibility, if it still exists.
These experiments were repeated again and again upon warm-blooded animals,
in whom the action of the heart proved capable of being sustained for a time by
artificial respiration.
Experiment. — A large rabbit, male, was twice struck at 5.10. At 5.20 it fell,
and in twenty-eight minutes from the time of the bite, the respiration stopped.
Artificial insufflation was then employed, as usual. It seemed to sustain the heart's
action pretty well for about twelve minutes. During this time the dorsal spine
was cut across; no motion resulted. A probe being thrust up and. down the spine,
feeble quivering of the nearer spinal muscles took place, but the limbs did not
88 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
move. On dividing the sciatic nerves, free motion was observed, and the phrenic
trunk was likewise irritable.
In another set of cases, the centres and nerve-trunks were galvanized immediately
after the natural respiration ceased, and before the heart was quite at rest. Still,
the same results were observed, so that it became clear that death took place rather
from paralysis of the centres than from loss of function in the efferent nerves.
The duration of irritability in the motor nerves of the frog was observed to be
less under venom poisoning than under death by decapitation, for example. It is
to be borne in mind, however, that where the heart ceases to beat, or beats too
feebly to circulate the blood, the loss of nerve power may be due to this cause
alone, as Kolliker has very well demonstrated. Yet, as we have seen, this source
of fallacy may be readily eliminated.
Effect of the Venom upon the Calorifacient Functions. — In very acute cases of Cro-
talus poisoning, death may occur so suddenly as to preclude the possibility of a fall
of temperature. The following experiment is a fair type of what occurs in most
cases which do not perish within a few minutes.
Exijeriment. — Temperature of the air 72° F. At eight minutes to five P. M., a
very accurate thermometer capable of indicating tenths of degrees^ was placed in
the cloac of a pigeon, and was found to mark 108° F. As the pigeon became
tranquil, it fell to 107.5° F. The pigeon was then exposed to the bite of a snake
two and a half feet long. Great quivering of the muscles ensued.
At the tenth minute, the temperature was 107.2° F., respiration 31.
The followino; record was then obtained : —
Time after death.
Temperature.
14th minute
106.8°
19th "
105.5
22d "
105.8
25th "
104.8
28th "
104.3
The bulb at this time slipped a litth
31st "
104.4
34th "
104.4
SYth "
104.2
Respiration 40.
40th "
103.9
Respiration jerking.
43d
103.5
46th
103.3
49th "
103.1
52d
103.
Respiration 52.
55th "
102.5
Slight convulsions.
58th "
101.5
Respiration irregular and slow — 12.
61st
Respiration ceased.
62d
101.3
63d
100.9
66th "
100.
' This instrument was made by J. W. Queen & Co., the well-known opticians, No. 924 Chestnut Street,
Philadelphia, to whom I am indebted for much valuable aid in making and altering the numerous instru-
ments which from time to time have been necessary in various physiological researches.
OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 89
The observation here ended. The heart blood clotted very rapidly, but not very
firmly. In addition to these facts, I may observe that in dogs who survived the
first action of the venom, and died at the close of twenty-four or thirty-six hours,
the temperature of the rectum was found to be a degree or more below the normal
standard. On the near approach of death it fell rapidly.
The experiments just related point plainly to the necessity of sustaining the
normal temperature of the body in severe cases of Crotalus bite. The value of
this precaution in other forms of poisoning has been admirably illustrated by M.
Brown-Sequard. All that he has said of narcotic and other depressing agents applies
with equal force to the cases before us.^
Effect of Venom on the Blood. — The study of the vital fluid in cases of acute or
primary poisoning is of a merely negative value. An animal, and especially a
warm-blooded animal which dies within a minute or two, or after even a longer
time, presents us with none of those profound alterations of the blood which
characterize all instances of secondary poisoning. A pigeon, for instance, is stricken,
it droops, falls, and dies within thirty seconds, as may happen. Its blood is red,
and coagulates perfectly. Its blood-corpuscles are ideally healthy. The tissues
and fluids beyond the wound are, pathologically, as they would be after poisoning
by opium or woorara. In such a case no physiologist could impute the death to
an altered blood, and its positive or negative effects on the essential nutrition and
oxygenation of nerve and muscle. The line of difference here between acute or
primary, and chronic or secondary poisoning by Crotalus venom, is drawn most
definitely, and although every possible variety of modified cases may occur, so as
to mingle the two modes of death into one deadly draught, the two sets of fatal
cases will still remain characteristically separated, and by no stronger difference
than that of the pathology of the blood in the respective instances.
If in the secondary poisonings we examine first the obvious physical characters
of the blood, we shall observe that it is very dark in all parts of the body, but
somewhat redder in the left than the right heart. Both the color and the accumu-
lation in the veins seem to be due to the apnoea which ushers in the death, as is
clear from what I already have said, and from the experiments which I shall
presently relate in connection with the question of coagulation.
As I have before stated, the longer the death is delayed, the more apt is the
blood to become incoagulable. So diffluent was it in some cases, that I have poured
it from glass to glass like water and kept it thus until it decomposed completely.
In other cases the heart contained a few loose and very weak clots, and in others
again, only rare shreds of coagulum were met with.
What effect has the direct mixture of venom and blood ? what becomes of the
fibrin in venom poisoning? and what is the cause of the change in the condition
of -the fibrin ? are the material questions which naturally present themselves for
answer.
Experiment. — One drop of venom was put on a slide and a drop of blood from a
^ Experimental Researches applied to Physiology and Pathology, byE. Brown-S(5quard, M. D., of the
Faculty of Paris, etc. etc. N. Y. H. Bailliere, 1853, p. 26 et seq.
12
90
PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
pigeon's wounded wing allowed to fall upon it. They were instantly mixed.
Witliin three minutes the mass had coagulated firmly, and within ten it was of
arterial redness.
Experiment. — One drop of arterial blood from the pigeon was mixed with one of
venom. Coagulation took place as usual, but the blood did not darken.
The last experiment was repeated, substituting venous blood, coagulation ensued,
and on exposure the blood became of arterial redness.
Experiment. — Two drops of venom were added to one of pigeon's blood. Coagula-
tion took place within four minutes. Pure blood from the pigeon was frequently
found to coagulate a little sooner than this. So small a degree of retardation may
have been due to the thick and gummy nature of the admixed venom.
As I was anxious to verify these observations, I instituted a number of experi-
ments, some of which are briefly stated in the table below. Simple as the conduct
of such experiments may seem, they are liable to fallacies. If, for instance, care
be not taken, the blood coagulates before time is allowed to mix it with the venom.
Or again, the mechanical process of mingling is carried on too long, and the feeble
clots which alone are formed in the case of some animals, may thus be so broken
up as to escape notice in the minute amounts of blood we are compelled to employ.
No.
Kind of blood used.
Amount of venom pre-
viously mixed with one
or two drops of water.
Amount of blood.
Kesult.
1
Crotalus durissus.
One drop.
About ten drops.
Coagulated within half an hour, clot
weak.
a
" "
One-half of a drop.
About twenty drops.
Coagulated in ten minutes.
8
Frog, Raiia pipiens.
One-fifth of a drop.
One-half of a drop.
Six drops.
Coagulated well.
4
Reed-birJ.
One-fifth of a drop.
Five drops.
Clot formed rapidly, and was so loose
and weak that it broke up completely
and easily during the process of min-
gling the blood and the venom, and
at first led to the belief that none
had formed.
5
"
One-fifth of a drop.
it li
Coagulated loosely. All the clots in
this blood were of this nature.
6
Dog (a small 1
brown terrier), j
One-quarter of a drop.
" "
Coagulated perfectly well.
One-half of a drop.
One-fifteenth of a drop.
," I
!'. " "a
7
Man.
One-fifteenth of a drop.
Seven drops.
" " "
The specimens of blood described in this table were usually set aside after coagu-
lating, and the watch-glasses in which they were placed remained covered with
smaller ones during twenty-four hours, the temperature being from 78° to about
82° F. To my surprise, the clots, which were in some instances very firm, became
in all more or less altered during this period of time. The blood was darker, the
structure of the clots softened and partially or entirely dissolved.
It becomes clear from these results that the mixture of venom and blood does not
alter the vital fluid at first in any way which is appreciable to our senses. The blood
drawn into venom and rapidly mixed with it in any proportion, clots as firmly as
usual. After a time, however, it seems that a catalytic change is induced, the clot
softens, and even becomes perfectly redissolved when the amount of mingled venom
has been large and the temperature of the air high. This alteration of the formed
clot, external to the body, finds its illustration within the system in those cases of
OF THE VENOM OP THE RATTLESNAKE. 91
chronic poisoning, in which the fibrin of the blood, subjected to long contact with
venom, finally loses its power to coagulate. When under ordinary circumstances,
in summer weather, blood is protected from desiccation, the clot not unfrequently
softens after a few days, or even entirely redissolves. This change, however, is
produced by extensive putrefactive alterations in the blood, and is most readily
induced in the blood of such persons as are anasmic, or still more rapidly in the
blood of some reptiles and fish. The condition of diflfluence attained within twenty-
four hours, under the influence of the venom, was such as usually requires, in pure
blood, several days of warm weather to effect. It is proper to add that in almost
all of the specimens of mingled blood and venom the odor made it evident that
putrefactive changes had taken place, an inference which was further justified by
the evidence which they soon afforded of continued progress in this direction.
Fontana's^ observations on the subject of the direct action of venom on blood
are altogether insufficient and unsatisfactory. He seems to have been of opinion
that admixture with venom darkened the blood, and prevented coagulation.
In this view he differed from Mead. Dr. Brainard,^ so far as I am aware, was the
first to state that when the animal bitten dies soon, the blood is coagulable, and
that when death is delayed, it ceases to exhibit this condition.
The statements of Dr. Brainard in regard to changes efiected in the blood-disks
by Crotalus, or rather Crotalophorus venom, prepared me to find them more or less
altered in my own cases. He seems to have held an opinion, common enough at
the date of his paper,^ namely, that woorara owed its potency to a serpent venom,
and that this poison as well as true venom seriously injured the blood-globules, and
produced a fatal result by causing their arrest in the capillaries. Fontana, who
examined the blood after death from viper bite, and who studied the mixture of
blood and venom, states that it prevented coagulation, but that he found the
globules unaltered.
The general result of my own experiments on this subject may be very briefly
summed up. I have made very many careful examinations of the blood-disks of
frogs, birds, dogs, etc., which had been killed by snake bites. In a few rare cases
of prolonged secondary poisoning, I found a small proportion of the globules
altered and indented on the edge, but in no case were these changes very remark-
able. In primary or acute poisoning, I have never been able to detect the least
alteration in the blood-cells. It should be needless to add that I examined the
cells taken from the heart and from capillaries, and that these observations were
made so soon as death took place.
I have also studied the effect on the disks of mixing the venom with blood, but
even in these circumstances no notable change took place in the blood-disks within
any brief period of time, as half an hour. Whether or not this direct contact
would affect them after a longer time, I cannot say, and it is a question which is
partially open for further study.
* Fontana, vol. i. pp. 313 and 384. Skinner's Translation.
"* Brainard, op. cit.
^ Essay on a New Method of Treating Serpent Bites, etc., by Daniel Brainard, M. D. Chicago, 1854,
pp. 14, and plates.
92 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
Dr. Burnett' states that direct union of venom and blood causes the disks to
lose their tendency to arrange themselves in rows. This observation, also, I am
unable to verify entirely. Where the blood and venom were mixed in equal quan-
tities, the nummulation of the disks was very often prevented, but the poison is so
glutinous and gum-like that its mechanical properties may be very well supposed
to exert some effect on this process, and certainly, so far as I have seen, the presence
of venom to the amount of a tenth or twentieth in no way retarded, much less
stopped, the union of the globules of freshly-drawn blood.
One other observation was yet to be made to complete the study of the influence
of venom upon the various parts of the blood. It was clear that in slow venom
poisoning the blood plasma became profoundly altered. As it was possible that the
contents of the blood-disks might also undergo a like degradation without of neces-
sity involving changes in the form of these elements, I examined the blood of
several guinea-pigs to determine whether, after death from Crotalus bite, the blood
would still crystallize. In some of these cases the blood was very feebly clotted, in
one only was it perfectly fluid. In all of these, specimens of blood from the heart
afforded me, after the usual preparation, beautiful crystals, nor did these differ in
form, size, or color, from the characteristic tetrahedrons of the blood of this animal.
In order to complete my study of the blood, I desired to ascertain the rate at
which the fibrin disappeared from the vital fluid.
Experiment. — The first observation on this point was made upon a small dog,
weighing about ten pounds. A tube was placed in the left carotid artery, that
blood might be drawn from time to time. The various portions of blood were
received in glasses of like shape, which were labelled and set aside.
At 4.15 minutes P. M., a drachm of blood was drawn from the artery ; it coagu-
lated perfectly well in three or four minutes.
At 4.20, at 4.24, and 4.26, the dog was bitten by separate snakes, which had
been frequently used within four days. From the second wound ran a little blood,
which collected in the hollow of the groin, and coagulated feebly.
At 4.37 about half an ounce of blood was drawn. At 4.36 the dog fell.
At 4.46 I removed about two drachms of blood. Like that removed at 4.37, it
clotted perfectly.
At 4.55 respiration ceased, just as a fourth specimen was taken, and at 4.58 all
motion was over. The specimen last collected coagulated rather freely.
The wound in the flank was at once laid open, and about two drachms of fluid
blood collected from the tissues, which were soaked down to the bones. The heart
blood, being drawn into a seventh glass, was still found to be coagulable, but the
clot which formed was by no means so perfect as in the blood first drawn.
At the close of twenty-four hours, the temperature being about 78° F., the speci-
mens one, two, and three were unaltered, and had no unpleasant odorj number four
was slightly altered, but the blood from the heart was already unpleasant in siaiell,
and that from the wound was quite putrid. At the end of a second period of
twenty-four hours, these changes were much more marked.
* Burnett, op. cit.
OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 93
Experiment. — In a second case, the dog, which was large and vigorous, survived
the bites several hours, and died during my absence. He was bitten by a strong
and fresh snake at 5.15, and again by a second at 5.18. At 5.57, blood drawn
from the femoral artery was red and perfectly coagulable. At the close of two
hours, the blood drawn still clotted well. At this time, as I have said, I ceased to
observe him. He was able to walk when I left him, and was drinking eagerly.
I do not suppose that he could have died before five or six hours from the time of
the bite. Eighteen hours after, I returned to find him dead and rigid. His blood
was everywhere dark and fluid.
Experiment. — In another instance during the spring of 1859, a dog was accident-
ally dropped into my snake-box. He was bitten in a dozen places by as many
snakes, and perished in about eighteen minutes. His blood was entirely fluid, and
so remained. This was the most rapid case of alteration of the blood with which
I have met.
The last observation of this series was one of great interest, owing to the fact
that the dog survived very serious visceral lesions and lived during two days with
his blood in a condition of complete diffluence.
Experiment. — ^^The dog, a small terrier weighing about fifteen pounds, was intended
to make one of a set of observations on the value of Bibron's antidote. For this
purpose he was placed in the snake-box, where instantly he was struck twice by a
large snake, both wounds being double fang marks, and both being in the right
flank. On removing him I observed that from one of the wounds blood was run-
ning in a thin stream. After it had run for some time, I caught a few drops in a
watch-glass, and found that it coagulated well. Before I thought fit to use the
supposed antidote, I was called away. Returning at the end of an hour I found
the dog standing with his head pendent, having just vomited glairy mucus. His
pulse was quick and feeble, his respiration occasionally panting. The hemorrhage
had ceased. Owing to an accident which at this time deprived me of the supply
of Bibron's antidote, which I had prepared, I was unable to make further use of
the animal in the manner proposed, and not desiring to lose the observation
altogether, I utilized the opportunity in the following way: —
One hour and a half after he was bitten I drew a drachm of blood from the
jugular vein. It clotted perfectly.
Four and a half hours after the bite a drachm of blood from the same vein
coagulated equally well.
Twenty hours from the time of the poisoning, the dog was found lying on his
left side, having passed slimy and bloody stools in abundance. At intervals he
seemed to suffer much from tenesmus, but was so weak that he stood up with
difiiculty. His gums were bleeding, a symptom I had seen before, and his eyes
were deeply injected. At this time about two or three drachms of blood were
drawn. It was very dark, and formed within five minutes a clot of feeble texture.
Twenty-seven hours and a half after the time at which he was bitten, the dog
was weaker. His hind legs were twitching, and the dysentery continued. Three
drachms of blood were drawn as usual, but no clot formed in this specimen,
although it was set aside and carefully watched for some time. While I was col-
94 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
lecting the fluid for observation the dog suddenly discharged per anum at least
four ounces of dark, grumous blood. At this time I supplied the dog with water, and
left him. Fifty-four hours after the bite he was seen again, and found to have
drunk freely of water, and to have passed fewer stools. Up to this date he declined
all food.
From this time he improved rapidly, and took with eagerness whatever nutri-
ment was offered. On the fourth day his blood again exhibited a clot, although it
was very small and of loose texture. I made no further examinations of the blood.
The dog lost flesh as he gained strength, and had profuse suppuration from an
abscess in the bitten flank. At the close of two weeks he was active and well,
except that the wound was still open.
The case last related is doubly valuable, as pointing out even in a single instance
the time at which the blood became altered, and also as showing, once more, how
profound may be this change, and how perfect the recovery.
The study of envenomed blood has thus far taught us — 1st. That in animals
which survive the poisoning for a time, the blood is so altered as to render the
fibrin incoagulable.
2d. Experiments in and out of the body have given proof that this change is
gradual, and that the absence of coagulation is not due to checked formation of
fibrin, but to alterations produced by the action of the venom in that fibrin which
already exists in the circulating blood.
3. The influence thus exerted is of a putrefactive nature, and imitates in a few
hours the ordinary results of days of change. It is probably even more rapid
within the body, on account of the higher tempei-ature of the economy.
4th. The altered blood retains its power to absorb gases, and thus to change its
own color.
5th. The blood-corpuscles are unaffected in acute poisoning by Crotalus venom, and
are rarely and doubtfully altered in the most prolonged cases which result fatally.
6th. The contents of the blood-globules of the guinea-pig can be made to crystal-
lize as is usual after other modes of death.
Altered Relation between the Blood and Tissues. — Among the most constant and
most curious lesions in the cases of secondai'y poisoning are the ecchymoses which
are found on and in the viscera of the chest and belly ; most frequently afiecting
the intestinal canal, they may and do occur in any cavity and on any organ. These
spots contain blood whose globules are more or less deformed, but still of dimensions
not less than usual. As they do not take place until the blood is considerably
altered, and as the intra-vascular blood-disks undergo no apparent change, this
leakage of the blood into the serous cavities and areolar interspaces is plainly due
to the loss of coagulating power in the blood, or to alterations in the vascular tubes,
or perhaps to both. Unfortunately, we can but revive anew the unanswered
question as to the possibility of the escape of blood-disks through yet unwounded
vessels. It is likely, however, that the tissues share in the incipient putrefactive
fermentation which characterizes prolonged cases of this poisoning, and are more
or less weakened thereby ; so that, with a degraded blood, and, of a consequence,
with an embai'rassed capillary circulation, aided by laboring respiration, we can
OF THE VENOM OP THE RATTLESNAKE. 95
readily conceive how capillary ruptures may take place, and so give rise to trans-
udations of blood in any portion of the body.
I have grouped together all the visceral lesions, because it seemed to me that,
however various the seat of the affection, it was, in all organs and throughout
the tissues, alike in its character. In other words, owing to the changes in blood
or tissues, or both, extravasations are met with in the lungs, brain, kidneys, serous
membranes, intestines, and heart. As a result, we may have functional derange-
ment grafted on the main stem of the malady, and the accompaniments of bloody
serum in the affected cavities, bloody mucus in the intestinal canal, and bloody
urine in the bladder.
Causation of Death in Acute and Chronic Crotalus Poisoning. — Perhaps scarcely
one intelligent medical reader will have followed me thus far without arriving at
the conclusion that the venom of the Crotalus, like that of other snakes, is a septic
or putrefacient poison of astounding energy. This very obvious view has long been
held by toxicologists, and the cases and experiments of this paper assuredly do not
weaken it.
The rapid decomposition of the blood, and of the tissues . locally acted upon by
the venom, leaves no doubt upon the matter, and makes it apparent that an
incipient putrefaction of this nature may so affect the blood as to destroy its power
to clot, and, perhaps, also to nourish the tissues through which it is urged.
The alterations thus brought about are probably the results of a continued fermen-
tative change, which, begun by a small amount of poison, is gradually made to
involve in fatal change the whole mass of the circulating fluids. Like all fermen-
tations, however, the rapidity depends on temperature and on the amount of the
primary ferment. In one instance, a dog, struck by eight snakes, died in eighteen
minutes, and exhibited an uncoagulable blood. I am aware of no other case of
loss of coagulating power so rapid. It was rendered thus by the number of locali-
ties from which the ferment attacked the system. On the other hand, the frog, a
small animal, receives the same dose of venom as would have entered the tissues of
a larger animal, yet it resists the poison most remarkably, by virtue of its powers
as a cold-blooded creature, existing at the temperature of the atmosphere itself.
Admitting, then, that the changes effected in the blood may be sufficient to
account for the fatal results in chronic cases of poisoning by Crotalus, are we justi-
fied in referring to similar causes the sudden deaths which sometimes take place in
small, or even larger animals, in whose tissues or fluids we can detect no change
whatsoever ?
In the present state of this inquiry, the question scarcely admits of a positive
answer. It is clear that in acute cases, the symptoms of depression are most marked,
and the heart and nerve centres are suddenly and fearfully enfeebled, so that their
irritability is lessened, and is finally lost earlier than occurs in other forms of death.
If now, we knew of no other property of the poison than this one, we could pro-
perly pause here, and regard the venom as having a specific influence on the heart,
and on the nervous irritability of some part of the cerebro-spinal centres, such as
characterizes certain of the better known poisons, such as corroval, woorara, upas,
opium, aconite, etc. Since, however, we are aware that serpent venom, after remain-
ing for a time in the body, has a specific power of attacking at least one element of
96 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
the blood, and thi-ough its degradation, perhaps, of affecting the whole circulating
fluid, we are naturally inclined to ask whether this power may not also be invoked
to explain even the ultimate nature of the sudden cases of death from the venom.
If, for instance, a pigeon is struck by a snake, and dies in thirty seconds, its tissues
normal in appearance and its blood unaltered, have we any logical right to infer
that the blood may have been inappreciably, but fatally, altered, so as to be unable
to sustain the life of the tissues which it feeds ? Is it this possible, but impercept-
ible, change in the blood which acts to produce those losses of irritability in the
nerve-centres which we have been led to regard as the proximate cause of early
and rapid death ? If such be the case, then the suddenness of the general change in
the blood must account for the failure of hfe, because it can be shown that animals
whose blood is considerably altered may live for some time, or even survive to
renew and refibrinate their vital fluids.
The cause of death in chronic or secondary poisoning may, with propriety, then, be
referred to the incipient putrefactive changes which affect the blood, as well as to
the continued influence of the agencies which first act to depress the heart's action,
and destroy nerve function.
The cause of death in the acute cases, where the result is so sudden that no change
is perceptible in the blood in the vessels, is amply explained in the preceding pages.
But, while we are able to state where death begins, and in what order the func-
tions succumb, we are still far from knowing why, or precisely how, this or that
structure is affected. The proximate causes are open to experimental study, the
ultimate reason, as we have seen (page 95), is as yet unknown.
Summing up, then, what we have learned of the acute form of poisoning, we
may feel justified in concluding, 1st. That the heart becomes enfeebled shortly after
the bite. This is due to direct influence of the venom on this organ, and not to
the precedent loss of the respiratory function. Notwithstanding the diminution of
cardiac power, the heart is usually in motion after the lungs cease to act, and its
tissues remain for a time locally irritable. The paralysis of the heart is, therefore,
not so complete as it is under the influence of upas or corroval.
2d. That in warm-blooded animals, artificial respiration lengthens the life of the
heart, but does not sustain it so long as when the animal has died by woorara, or
decapitation.
od. That in the frog, the heart-acts continue after respiration has ceased, and
sometimes survive until the sensory nerves and the nerve-centres are dead, the motor
nerves alone remaining irritable.
4:th. That in warm-blooded animals respiration ceases, owing to paralysis of the
nerve-centres.
5th. That the sensory nerves, and the centres of nerve power in the medulla
spinalis and medulla oblongata, lose their vitality before the efferent or motor nerves
become affected.
6th. That the muscular system retains its irritability in the cold-blooded animals,
acutely poisoned, for a considerable time after death.
7th. That the first effect of the venom being to depress the vital energy of the
heart and nerve-centres, a resort to stimulants is clearly indicated, as the only
rational mode of early constitutional treatment.
OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 97
Analogy hetween the Symptoms of Grotalus Poisoning and iliose of Certain Diseases.
— I am unwilling to leave this unsatisfactory, but necessary part of my task, with-
out calling attention to the singular likeness between the symptoms and lesions of
Crotalus poisoning, and those of certain maladies, such as yellow fever.^ If for a
moment we lose sight of the local injection, and regard only the symptoms which
follow, and the tissue changes which ensue, the resemblance becomes still more
striking.
In both diseases, for such they are, we have a class of cases in which death seems
to occur suddenly and inexplicably, as though caused by an overwhelming dose of
the poison. In both diseases, these cases are marked by symptoms of profound
prostration, and in both the post-mortem revelations fail to explain the death. I
have spoken, as an example, of yellow fever, but similar instances are not wanting
in cholera, typhoid, and typhus fevers, and in scarlatina.
A second class of cases, both of Crotalus poisoning and of yellow fever, survive
the first shock of the malady, and then begin to exhibit the train of symptoms which
terminates in more or less complete degradation of the character of the blood. Vary-
ing remai'kably among themselves, exhibiting, as it were, preferences for this or that
organ, all of these maladies agree in the destruction of the fibrin of the blood which
their fatal cases frequently exhibit. In yellow fever, the likeness to venom poison-
ing is most distinctly preserved, as we trace the symptoms of both diseases to the
point where the diffluent blood leaks out into the mucous and serous cavities. The
yellowness which characterizes many yellow fever cases, I do not find described
as a current symptom of the venom malady, but it is often mentioned as one
of the accompaniments of the period of recovery from the bite.^ It is, indeed,
most .probable, that if ^ small and repeated doses of venom were introduced at
intervals into the body of an animal, a disease might be produced even more
nearly resembling the malady in question. In the parallel thus drawn, I have
given but the broad outlines of resemblance, nor was it to be expected that the
minor details would be alike. From a general and philosophic point of view, this
similarity is sufficiently striking to make me hope that the complete control of one
such septic poison foi" experimental use, may enable us in future to throw new light
on those septic poisons of disease whose composition we know nothing of, and whose
very means of entering the body they destroy, is, as yet, a mystery.
* This analogy has been noted by S. L. Mitchill, by Magendie, and by Gaspard, who has also called
attention to the resemblance between ordinary putrefactive poisoning, such as arises from injection into
the blood of decayed animal substances, and the poisoning by venom. Neither in this, or in any other
cases of the kind, is the likeness perfect; and while, to use a naturalist's phrase, we recognize these
septic maladies as of one genus, we cannot regard them as so nearly allied as to be mere varieties of
one species. Yellow fever and putrefactive poisoning both begin, in the mass of cases, with a fever,
which is absent in the first stages of venom poisoning ; and there are other and wide differences which it
is needtess to enumerate here. See Gaspard, Journal de Physiologic, tome iv. p. 2 et seq., and tome iii.
pp. 81-85 of same Journal. See also La Roche on Yellow Fever, vol. ii. p. 597.
= Jaundice, occasionally observed in France as an early symptom of viper bite, has been usually
regarded as the jaundice of fear, a cause which certainly cannot be invoked to account for the icterus
seen in late stages of the malady caused by the venom.
13
98 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
CHAPTER VIII.
CROTALTJS POISONING IN MAN.
The cases of Rattlesnake poisoning in man have been separated from the rest
of this paper, owing to the difficulty of grouping the phenomena of human poison-
ing with those observed in animals. This diflBculty arose from the imperfect
reports of such cases as have been recorded, and from the fact that, in man, the
symptoms were possibly modified, in some instances, by the remedies used, and
were thus no longer comparable with such as had been seen to exist in animals
submitted to no modifying treatment. Some of these objections would, of course,
disappear in a collection of cases so large as to enable us distinctly to separate the
essential from the induced, or accidental features of the malady. Unfortunately,
although I have collected at least fifty cases of Crotalus bite, the most of these
scarcely deserve the name of medical reports, and among the whole number I have
been able to select but sixteen which were sufficiently rich in details, to be of the
slightest value. The numerous gaps in the accompanying table, show but too well
the want of full medical statements of the order and character of the symptoms,
even in these select cases, and it is humiliating to observe that, of the four post-
mortem examinations of the lesions in this mode of poisoning, but two were made
in this country.
If, then, in the table of symptoms in man, and in the following remarks upon
them, such a lack of detail is met with as would disgrace the most ordinary report
of " an interesting case," the blame must rest where it belongs, with the physicians
of our own country, who have failed thus much in their duty as medical
observers.
It is impossible to review the whole field of observation upon this important sub-
ject, without arriving at the conclusion that whatever may be the degree of viru-
lence in the poison of different venomous snakes, its mode of affecting the system
varies but little, whether the bite be inflicted by the Viper, the Copperhead, the
Rattlesnake, or the dreaded, but not more deadly. Cobra. Thus, in each case, we
have the local poisoning, the constitutional malady, and the possibility of inexpli-
cably rapid death on the one hand, and of a strange zymotic disease upon the other.
There may yet remain some room for doubt as to whether the apparent difference
in the activity of the venom from various serpents is not due to the quantities
formed or stored up in each case, and to unobserved peculiarities in the structure
and form of the poison apparatus. However this may be, it is quite certain that
two cases of rattlesnake poisoning may sometimes differ as much as either one of
them will, from a case of Moccasin or Cobra bite. This fact should make us cau-
OF THE VENOM OP THE RATTLESNAKE. 99
tious in asserting distinctions between the mode of action of the venoms of the
several poisonous serpents upon evidence of any limited number of fects.
With these brief preliminary remarks, we shall pass to the consideration of the
symptoms of Crotalus bite in man. In this review, I shall make use not only of
the cases in the accompanying table, but also of the many brief notices of cases
which were found unfit for tabular analysis. All that I have to say at present
with regard to antidotes and treatment, will be found at the close.
TABLE OF CROTALUS
No.
Reporter.
Sex.
Seat of wounds.
Early local
Later local
Immediate or early
Respiration and
General later
(. e, fang marks.
symptoms.
symptoms.
constitutional
symptoms.
circulation.
symx>toms.
Nervous system.
1
Moore
Male
Instep twice
bitten
Pain, swelling,
hemorrhage
from bites
Continued pain, and
swelling to the knee
None stated
None stated
Probably none of
moment
2
W. Mayrant
Male
Throat
Swelling and
pain
Caustics used. Small
slough
Sudden and exces-
sive prostration ;
vomiting; locked-
jaw; loss of speech
Feeble fluttering
pulse
•
3
W. Mayrant
Male
Pain
Violent vomiting
and prostration
4
W. E. Horner
Male
Bend of elbow,
There seems to
Itching, pain great.
Apparently none
Feeble pulse, res-
Convulsion; mind
two fang marks
have been none
felt (see re-
marks) except
itching
swelling
piration easy
generally clear up
to death
5
H. B. Phillips
Female
Struck twice
on foot
Inguinal glands en-
larged ; great pain
and swelling ; mot-
tled skin
Vomiting, depres-
sion, and thirst
Feeble, pulse 60;
great gen'l swell-
ing; great thirst;
loss of speech ;
tongue swollen
Mind clear
6
Post
Male
Last phalanx
of middle
finger
Small jet of
blood from
wound; swell-
ing
Continued swelling
up to pectoral mus-
cles, followed by
great discoloration
Pulse 2J- hours af-
ter bite 80, not
weak; after this
it became faster,
to 120, and more
Excited manner
and more feeble
7
J. Trowbridge
Male, set.
Foot near
Swelling and
Leg swollen to the
Probably none of
Pulse rapid 2 J hrs.
12 years
small toe
pain
groin; great paint the usual symp-
after bite
and discoloration
toms, none stated
8
Withmire
Male
(boy)
Ankle
Pain and
swelling
Continued pain and
swelling
9
Hammond
Male
Finger
Pain and
swelling
Pain and swellingdis-
appeared after use
of antidote, and re-
turned in 40 minutes
10
Hammond
Female
Finger
Pain, swelling,
Pain, swelling, etc.. Depression and
Case too short for
(Coolidge)
cet. 15
years
and discolora-
tion
to the elbow
nausea
the later constitu-
tioual symptoms
to develop
11
John Louis
Xantus.
(de V(Ssey.)
Boy
Leg
Pain, swelling
Increasing pain and
swelling
Prostration
Great prostration
12
Home
Male
Thumb and fin-
No immediate
Swelling, pain ex-
Incoherence possi-
Pulse feeble,
The mind confused
(the re-
ger twice bit-
swelling
tending rapidly up
bly due to drunk-
throughout100 to
at first, became
porter)
ten, four fang
wounds
the arm, which grew
cold and sloughed
before death
enness and alarm
138
clear; depression,
nausea, faint feel-
ings; vomiting on
the second day
13
Woodhouse
Male
Finger
Pain, shock,
and nausea
Pain, swelling of
hand and arm, and
axillary glands, to-
sications over the
lymphatics on third
day
Nausea
14
Harlan
Male
Metacarpal
Bleeding from
Extensive swelling
Repeated and sud- Feeble pulse; difii-
Delirium, restless-
joint of finger,
the punctures;
and pain
den fainting and
cult respiration;
ness, anxiety, in-
two fang
swelling, disco-
pallor
hiccough
somnia, incessant
wounds
loration
thirst
15
Atchison
Female
Instep, two
Slight swelling
Intense pain shoot-
2J hours after the Feeble pulse until
Delusions, etc.,
a3t. 12
fang punctures
and discolora-
ing up the leg
bite almost mori-
the stimulus acted
passed away un-
years
tion
bund; pulse feeble
and wavy; surface
cold and perspir-
ing; face swollen;
mind wandering;
pupils dilated;
subject to sensory
delusions
der the use of the
stimulus
16
Pihorel
Male,
Twice bitten on
Swelling and
No increase of the
Within 10 minutes
The physician removed the ligature
adult
the palm and
discoloration at
primary swelling af-
pallor, cold sweats,
in consequence of the swelling, etc.,
between the
least partially
ter removal of the
anxious expres-
when—
thumb and fore-
due to the liga-
ligature
sion, general de-
The pulse becameiThe limbs insen-
finger on the
ture, which was
pression
feeble (50) but
sible, repeated
back of the
applied 3 or 4
rose to 110 before
syncope, pupils
thumb, the last
minutes after
death; noisy res-
contracted, mind
wound was
the bites
piration
clear
single
At the seventh hour there was a swell-
ing of the lip ; no general tumefac-
tion ; great anxiety ; painful and
difficult deglutiti
on and respiration.
POISONING IN MAN.
No.
Secretions and
State of
Result of
Duration of
Mode
Local and gene-
Local
General
Remarks.
discharges.
skin and
tempera-
ture.
disease.
disease.
of
death.
ral consequences
if recovery
occurred.
treatment.
treatment.
1
Cure
At work in 3 days
Limited local
suppuration
Ammonia, liga-
ture
Ammonia
Mild case; alludes
to 14 cases of
snake bite suc-
cessfully treated
with ammonia.
2
Cure
Within 24 hours
Small local
slough
Caustic
Alcohol and red
pepper; 2 quarts
of whisky given
in one night, and
renewed as the
pulse fell
Severe case.
3
Cure
In 12 hours
Whisky one quart
in 10 or 12 hours
4
Dark bilious
Extremities
Death
In about 18 hours,
Cups, scarifica-
Ammonia, olive
In this case the
stool, vomiting
cold
without convul-
sions
tion, etc.
oil, no persistent
treatment
man was some-
what intoxicated
when bitten.
5
Constant vomit-
ing, lots of
speech
Cure
Much better in 30
hours, well iu 3
weeks
Scarifications,
blisters
Carb. ammonia and
arsenic
Severe case.
6
None mentioned
Death
5} hours, coma
Suction follow-
ing on incom-
plete excision
within half an
hour, ligature
Carb. ammonia and
brandy in as large
doses as the pa-
tient could be pre-
vailed on to take
7
Cure
Frictions, with
olive oil
gij of olive oil
given every half
hour
Relates 8 other
cases of cure by
olive oil, all in-
completely told.
8
Nausea and
vomiting
Recovery
24 hours
Repeated appli-
cations of tinct.
iodine
None
9
Recovery
1 hour
None
Bibron's antidote,
given twice (dose
gtt. X)
No general symp-
toms occurred.
10
Recovery
Relief in 1 hour
Suppuration on
back of hand,
perhaps from
local treatment
Suction,ligature,
free incisions,
iodine injec-
tions
Bibron's antidote,
given twice (dose
gtt. X)
Expressed distinct
relief from the use
of the bromine.
11
Recovery
Within 48 hours
Bibron's antidote,
given twice (dose
gtt. X)
Effects of 2 doses
of bromine said
to be immediate
and well marked.
12
Vomiting on 2d
Constant
Death
Seventeenth day
Asthe-
Ammonia
Chiefly by ammo-
A severe case, well
day, diarrhoea
coldness of
nia
nia and alcoholic
reported
11th day, and
extremities
from
stimuli, with such
continuously
typhus
other remedies as
until death
state
the symptoms de-
manded
13
Nausea and vo-
Recovery
Gradual, the ge-
Slough, exfolia-
Incision, suction,
Took in a few hours
miting on move-
neral symptoms
tion of last pha-
ligature, am-
one quart of 4th
ment during five
passed off on the
lanx, anchylo-
monia
proof brandy and
days
fifth day, the lo-
cal results were
persistent during
some months
sis of first joint
of finger
a ^ pint of whis-
ky ; intoxication
ensued but lasted
only four hours
14
Continual nau-
sea & vomiting,
pain & stricture
at epigastrium
Recovery
Left his bed in a
week, depression
passed off on the
2d day
Suppuration
Ligatures, free
excision, am-
monia, repeat-
ed washing
Camphor, ammo-
nia, opium, and
treatment by
symptoms
Severe case.
15
Vomiting of bile
Cold and
Recovery
Speedy relief from
Remarkable and
Scarification,
Free use of stimu-
took place after
perspiring
use of stimulus,
entire relief
cups, local sa-
lants, 80 gi-ains of
a dose of carb.
and sudden and
from hooping-
line bath, seda-
carb. ammonia,
ammonia, but
complete cure
cough, under
tive fomenta-
and three pints of
did not recur
within 24 hours
which the pa-
tient had suf-
fered
tions
brandy in a few
hours, without
causing intoxica-
tion
16
Involuntary uri-
Cold and
Death
9 hours, some relief
Ligature in 3 to 4
Half ounce of olive
nary and fecal
moist
followed the se-
minutes, actual
oil, a sedative
evacuations, vo-
vere symptoms
cautery within
enema, and leech-
miting one houi
caused by remov-;
18 minutes of
es to the throat,
after bite
ing the ligature, |
the bites
seem to have been
butduringtheSth
the whole treat-
hour respiration and deglu-
ment
tition more and more diffi-
cult, pulse imperceptible.
and death ensued appa-
rently from syncope; the
mind cle
ar to the close
102 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
Sex. — It is needless to state that men are the most frequent subjects of Crotalus
bite, owing to the nature of their occupations, which necessarily bring them within
reach of the reptile. Children and women are sometimes bitten, and, as may be
seen from the table, even young children may. recover from the effects of the acci-
dent. It is not possible or right to infer from this, that young or weakly persons
suffer no more than the strong or fully grown, because we do not know how much
venom may have been inserted in each case. Thus, a child struck by an exhausted
snake would have a far better chance of escape than a vigorous man bitten by a
serpent which had been caged for months. This element is, of course, deficient in
calculations upon the prognosis of our ordinary maladies, such as typhoid fever and
others, since in them the severity of the resultant symptoms alone informs us as to
the probable amount of poison received by the system. In the present instance,
it is an important, and usually an attainable factor, in estimating the probabilities
of any given case, which it never can be in those modes of septic poisoning which
we call diseases, and know only through their symptoms.
The Situation of the Wound. — In almost every reported case, the wound has been
upon an extremity. A woodman steps over a log which conceals a snake; a child
thrusts an arm into the hollow trunk, where a serpent lies; or, an intoxicated man,
ignorant and reckless, puts his hand into a snake cage, or handles a snake which is
benumbed with cold, and to appearance harmless. Another not uncommon cause
of bite, is due to want of caution in dealing with serpents which have been
wounded, or even decapitated. One of the best of the reported cases, that of Dr.
Woodhouse, was thus produced.
Local Symi^toms. — The pain of the wound made by the snake is usually the earliest
symptom, but it is by no means a constant phenomenon in either men or animals.
Thus, while one reporter speaks of the sudden and intense pain, another does not
mention it at all, or expressly states that the wound was at first disi'egarded. In
most instances, the bite is certainly painful, and when we consider the hooked form
of the fangs, the double wound, the injection of a foreign fluid, and the final forci-
ble withdrawal of the teeth, we can feel no surprise that, in most cases, pain is
felt, and may wonder that it is not felt in all. Certainly we need not look to the
specific nature of the venom, to explain the primary pain here described.
The succeeding local symptoms are almost inevitably swelling, discoloration, and
increasing pain. The reader who has followed this Essay thus far, will have no
difficulty in explaining at least two of these symptoms. The swelling is due, not
to inflammation, but to a large or small collection of effused blood about the wound.
In some loose tissues the amount thus accumulated may be very great, but in
other cases the anatomical peculiarities of the part wounded may limit the early
extravasation of blood, by confining it under a fascia, of which I have seen repeated
examples in animals. The discoloration is to be explained in the same manner.
Hemorrhage from the wound may limit, for a time, the last two symptoms. It
is, however, a rare occurrence, and depends upon the size of the external opening
of the wound inflicted by the fang, and perhaps, also, upon the character of the
vessels accidentally encountered by the fang. In one of the dogs whose medical
history is recorded in this Essay, the hemorrhage from the fang wounds amounted
to several ounces.
OP THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 103
In estimating these early local evidences of poisoning in man, .as well as the local
signs which follow, it is well to remember that in almost every instance the ligature
was applied at once, and very tightly. In animals bitten and not subjected to the
ligature the swelling occurs, it is true, but forms much more slowly than is usual
in the cases of men.
The primary local symptoms thus described increase progressively, so that within
a period which varies extremely, the swelling and discoloration extend up the
bitten limb, accompanied on their march by pain of the most excruciating character.
At this time, and after the first few minutes, the increase in the local symptoms is
probably due to the influence of the septic poisoning upon the tissues near the
wound, to the irritation thus resulting, and to the direct and indirect effect of the
venom upon the local circulation. Thus the extremity becomes larger and more and
more discolored until the skin offers every tint of an old. bruise. Vesications appear
on the surface, the pain lessens, the local temperature early diminished, falls still
lower, and unless the poison has ceased to act, or a potent remedy has interfered,
gangrene ensues, and the system, already weakened by the effect of the poison upon
its own tissues, dies in the effort to separate the mortified and corrupted part.
If, on the other hand, the poison is not present in a dose so large as to insure
these fatal effects, or is properly antagonized by medical agents, the sioelling declines,
and the pain disappears, with a celerity which every practitioner or o-eporter has
assumed to he evidence of Ids own skill, or of the utility of his therapeutic means, hut
which, as we shall have reason to see, is in reality, an essential and most striking
feature of the Grotalus malady, and is either attributable to none of the remedies
employed, or to every one of the scores of them which popular credulity has placed
like blunt weapons in the too yielding hand of the physician.
It is rather remarkable, that only one reporter. Dr. Woodhouse, has alluded to
the occurrence of swelling in the lymphatic glands of the part bitten. His case
was in other respects somewhat peculiar, inasmuch as the lymphatic trunks also
appear to have been inflamed, which is not a common symptom of Crotalus bite.
The venom usually seems to enter the system through the bloodvessels alone, and
to sap the life of the parts with which it comes in contact, without of necessity
involving the lymph vessels or their glands.
Local Residts. — It is not very easy to form a correct estimate of the local conse-
quences in the cases which finally recover. This difficulty will be explained uj)on
glancing over the column of local treatment in the table, when it will be observed
that ligatures, the cautery, excision and incision, alone or combined, were resorted
to with a freedom dictated by therapeutic despair or the fears of the sufferer and
his friends.
It is hence impossible to learn positively how much was due to remedies, how
much to disease. It seems, however, to be certain that in many cases slight or
extensive local suppurations follow the cure, that in others local gangrene and
sphacelus of flesh and bone occur, while in the graver cases, the economy is too
seriously deranged to enjoy the power of spontaneously amputating the mass of a
limb. The well-known case reported by Sir E. Home {See Table of Crotalus Poison-
ing in Man, Case 12), approached most nearly to the condition last described. In
104 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
this instance the poison produced greai local swelling. When the system began to
recover from the primary depressing effects of the venom, it found the bitten arm
for the most part dead. Intense inflammation ensued as the patient rallied, but
being unequal to the effort of repair, he died before it was accomplished.
In connection with the local signs, it is as well to note that no reporter has de-
scribed in man the local twitching which is so common in dogs and other animals.
The constitutional symi^toms of Crotalus poisoning sometimes declare themselves
very early, and if we can believe their reporters, almost immediately after the bite.
It is more probable, however, that an interval of several minutes elapses, or that
the faintness of terror and pain has been mistaken for the constitutional effects of
the venom. In a few instances these symptoms do not announce themselves for
twenty or thirty minutes, but aside from these exceptional cases, it seems evident
that the general manifestations of the influence of the venom on the system appear
with a rapidity which is sufficiently surprising, so that the local symptoms are
sometimes overshadowed and forgotten for a time, in the singular phenomena which
characterize the systemic disturbance.
The principal constitutional effect of the venom is a general prostration of the
most appalling character. Sometimes within a few minutes, sometimes within one
or two hours, this condition of profound sedation attains its height. The snake
strikes and the faintness comes on while the person injured is endeavoring to kill
the reptile. Or, as in another instance, he walks for some time and suddenly finds
his limbs giving way beneath him.
I have looked in vain through the reports for any evidence of a primary stimu-
lating power on the part of the poison, but neither in the published cases, or in
my own observations, have I met with any early symptoms of excitement which
might not with reason be attributed to terror and pain.
The condition of prostration referred to, is accompanied by a variety of pheno-
mena which are in general such as accompany the action of any sudden and violent
depressing agency. The patient staggers or falls, cold sweats bathe the surface,
nausea and vomiting ensue, the pulse becomes quick, and rapid, and feeble, the
expression anxious, and, in a few cases, the mind slightly disturbed.
A patient dying in this condition would probably exhibit no lesion of fluid or
solid, and would be an example of acute or primary poisoning, such as sometimes
occurs in the early stage of epidemics of cholera or yellow fever. So great, however,
is the power of resistance on the part of man, owing, perhaps, in some degree to his
bulk, that very early death seems to be a rare incident of venom poisoning, so
rare, indeed, that I have met with no reported example of its occurrence.
If death does not intervene, the local symptoms soon begin to play a more import-
ant role, and the swelling and discoloration extend up the limb, and pass on to the
trunk, so that when the arm has been wounded, half of the chest and back have
been seen to be discolored, as thoxigh severely bruised.
Meanwhile, the signs of general blood-poisoning develop themselves, and within
a few hours, or a day, the face and other parts become swollen and puffy. At the
same time, the general weakness remains well marked, as shown by repeated syn-
cope, the heart quick, feeble, and fluttering, and the respiration labored.
OP THE VENOM OP THE RATTLESNAKE. 105
In the majority of cases, the slight mental disturbance now j)asses away, and the
mind remains singularly clear to the close, whatever the event may be. In other
instances, as in Dr. Harlan's case, delirium, restlessness, and insomnia are present,
but in general the nervous symptoms of this and of the earlier stage of the malady
are confined to slight incoherence, and to rare sensory delusions.
The state of the secretions and discharges seems to have been thought of so little
moment, that in most of the cases they are not even alluded to. For example, the
state of the urine is not spoken of in any one instance. The vomiting is so fre-
quent and so enduring a symptom, that it is more constantly referred to ; but of
the character of the evacuation thus effected, we learn almost nothing. From the
fact that in some of the cases the reporter states that it was necessary to give a
purgative to complete the cure, we may, perhaps, infer that in the milder cases,
at least, no diarrhoea occurred. In two of the fatal cases, diarrhoea came on late
in the disease, and in one we are told that the stools were of a dark bilious cha-
racter, but beyond this we are left in ignorance.
Four fatal cases are found in the table. Of these, the most rapid was that of
the medical man, reported by Dr. Post (Table, Case No. 6) ; the malady ending
in death by coma, within five hours and a half. This was the nearest approach
to a case of acute or simple primary poisoning, which we have met with in man.
M. Pihorel's case (Table, Case No. 16) died quietly in about nine and a half
hours, without loss of intellect, but with a rapidly increasing difficulty of breathing
and swallowing.
Dr. Horner's case (Table, Case No. 4) terminated about eighteen hours after the
bite was inflicted. One or two hours before death, the patient had a general
convulsion, with involuntary evacuation from the bowels, but without any foaming
at the mouth. He appears to have regained his senses after this time. Just
before he expired, he complained of pain in the colon, said he felt sleepy, closed
his eyes, and died quietly without agony, and without convulsions.
In the third of the fatal cases, Sir E. Home's (Table, Case 12), the sufferer
rallied from the primary- poisoning, and died on the seventeenth day, with well
expi'essed typhous symptoms.
The duration of the various cases, and their mode of recovery or death, is of
considerable interest. If we analyze the table of sixteen cases, we shall find that,
as I have just stated, the four fatal cases terminated in five and a half hours, nine
hours, eighteen hours, and seventeen days respectively. If, again, we analyze these
four cases with respect to the question of death from primary or secondary poison-
ing, we shall discover that Case No. 12 (Home's) survived not only the early effects,
but also, to a great extent, the constitutional affection, and perished in the effort to
get rid of the gangrenous arm.
On examination, the blood proved to be coagulable. It is probable that the
blood had survived the infected condition, and was gradually regaining its normal
standard.
Case No. 4 (Horner) seems to have been a fair representative of those instances
of Crotalus poisoning which I have termed secondary or chronic. The patient
14
106 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
never rallied completely from the depressing eflfect of the venom, but he was found
after death to have a perfectly incoagulable blood.
Case No. 16 (Pihorel) died in nine and a half hours. It seems to have ended
before the blood lost its coagulability, so that, although the veins of the bitten arm
contained but little clotted blood, large coagula of loose structure were found in
the main venous vessels of the trunk, and in the right auricle.
Case No. 6 (Post) was not examined after death. Of the remaining twelve
cases of the table, all recovered within variable periods. Where the patient was
several days or longer indisposed, the delayed recovery was usually due to the
local lesions, rather than to prolonged constitutional malady.
In connection with the history of the amelioration or cure, in almost every case,
we are struck by one fact, which is of singular value, because its neglect has led
to almost every one of the fallacies attending upon the use of the supposed anti-
dotes which have attained to a local or general notoriety. If the reader will glance
at the Table of Crotalus poisoning in man, and at the column headed " Mode of
Recovery," he will observe that in almost every case the relief from urgent symp-
toms was sudden, and the completed cure almost nearly so. If, again, he will
look at the column in which are grouped the constitutional symptoms, he will
certainly feel some astonishment at their gravity in relation to the character of the
convalescence. So extraordinary was this contrast, that within a few hours, or
a day in most cases, the patient, whom the physician regarded as almost moribund,
went on horseback to see him, or was able to move about the house, or engage in
his ordinary avocations. The general practical inference will at once suggest itself,
upon an examination of the numerous and varied remedies employed. It will then
be seen that, under the most different systems of treatment, the several cases grew
better, or entirely recovered, with equal abruptness. Are we not driven to the
absurd conclusion that each and every remedy is equally useful, or to the more
logical inference that sudden relief and rapid recovery are peculiarities which belong
to those cases of Crotalus bite in which the amount of venom injected has not been
so unusually large as to insure a fatal ending ?
The bearings of these conclusions upon the study of antidotes require but little
comment, and must at once suggest themselves to every thoughtful physician. It
is almost needless to add that the reporters have usually assumed the suddenness
of the cures to be due in each case to the peculiar therapeutic means employed.
I have already described the local consequences of the bite. The various reports
make no mention of constitutional results succeeding recovery. One very curious
statement, however, is found in connection with case No. 5 (Phillips). The
patient, a female, was suffering when bitten, from a severe attack of hooping-cough,
of which she was suddenly and completely cured by the effects of the venom.
P. M. Section. — The three cases of post-mortem examination offer very little,
save negative information, as to the character of the lesions.
The Head. — Dr. Horner found the brain of a healthy consistence, but congested
so that the cortical substance was of a deep brown tint. A good deal of serum
oozed from the cut surfaces. About a drachm of transparent serum was present in
each lateral ventricle. The medulla spinalis was healthy; its tunica arachnoidea
OF THE VENOM OF -THE RATTLESNAKE. 107
being somewhat turbid in places, as if from some former cause. The veins of the
pia mater and the vertebral veins were full of blood.
M. Pihorel makes a similar report of his case. He found some thickening of the
cerebral arachnoid, which was also adherent to the pia mater, but to what extent
he does not state. The blood of the sinuses and of the dura mater was fluid. The
same condition as to fulness of blood, and the same slight excess of serum in the
ventricles and sub-arachnoid spaces, existed in Sir E. Home's case.
Tliorax. — Dr. Horner found all the thoracic organs healthy, except that the left
ventricle of the heart was described as hypertrophied. The heart was nearly
empty, owing to the escape of its fluid when the head was opened.
M. Pihorel found the walls of the trachea and bronchial tubes congested, a spot
of distinct inflammation corresponding to the cricoid cartilage. The trachea and
bronchise were full of a red and frothy mucus. The lungs were healthy and crepi-
tant, but were somewhat congested ("premier degr6 d'engorgement sanguin").
Two inches below the pharynx the oesophagus was narrowed, but no notable altera-
tion of its tissues could be discovered.
In Sir E. Home's case the lungs were healthy, the anterior fold of the pericar-
dium was dry, resembling a dried bladder. The cavity of this membrane contained
half an ounce of serous fluid, frothy from admixture with gases which escaped in
bubbles.
Abdomen. Horner's Case. — The peritoneum contained a few ounces of serum.
The mucous membrane of the stomach was intensely injected with blood, and most
remarkably so in the wrinkles of the mucous membrane. It exhibited neither
ecchymosis or softening, and contained the articles prescribed in the morning, with
but little gas.
The mucous coat of the small intestines was dotted "with patches of acute
inflammation. These spots were of a lively red and very numerous, especially in the
jejunum. This latter intestine had its parietes considerably thickened by an infil-
tration of serum, and was partially filled with a dark bilious matter. The colon was
sound but contracted, and contained at its head some hard fecal excrement. The
liver was yellow and enlarged, which was attributed to the habits of the patient."
M. Pihorel found all the abdominal organs healthy. Sir E. Home describes the*
stomach in the case of Soaper as turgid with blood. All the other abdominal organs
were healthy. In Pihorel's and Home's cases the blood was more or less coagu-
lated. In Horner's it was everywhere perfectly fluid. Dr. Horner says that the
muscles were of a brownish yellow color throughout the body.
The local swelling in Dr. Horner's case was due to serous infiltration ; in that of
M. Pihorel, but little swelling existed during life after the ligature was removed,
and at the post-mortem inspection the tumefaction of the bite between the two
metacarpal bones extended only half an inch around it. The bite on the dorsal
face of the thumb was not at all swollen. The muscles in these localities were
unaltered. Sir E. Home's case presented at the time of death extensive sloughs of
skin on the arm and forearm. A large abscess existed on the outside of the arm,
elbow, and forearm. The parts in the immediate neighborhood of the bite and in
the palm were healthy, except that there was a little extravasated blood in the
108 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
areolar spaces. The skin still adhered to the biceps flexor muscle in the arm and
to the flexor muscles in the forearm, by a dark-colored cellular tissue. Elsewhere
in the arm and forearm, the skin and muscles from the axilla down were separated
by a dark fluid of an ofi"ensive odor, containing sloughs of the dead cellular tissue
floating in it. " The muscles had their natural appearance everywhere, except on
the surface which was next to the abscess. Beyond the limits of the abscess, blood
was extravasated in the cellular membrane, and this appearance was observable on
the right side of the back as far as the loins, and on the right side of the chest
over the serratus major anticus muscle."
Dr. Horner's case occurred in Philadelphia, in the month of July, and was ex-
amined four and a half hours after death. M. Pihorel does not give the exact date
of his case. It took place at Rouen, and from various allusions in the text of his
report, it is plain that the weather was cold. The examination did not occur until
five days after death, but the cold was so great that the body is said to have been
in excellent preservation. Sir E. Home's case occurred in London, during the
month of October. It was examined sixteen hours after death.
Antidotes. — It might naturally be supposed that the question of antidotes and
remedies would be considered fully and experimentally, at the close of this Essay.
Such, indeed, was my intention when I began the present investigation, but it soon
became clear to me that a just and useful experimental testing of this matter was
out of the question until I became thoroughly acquainted with the habits and
movements of the Rattlesnake, the precise character of the venom, and its various
modes of acting on the system. Portions of this information were to be found
scattei'ed through books and journals, but these disjointed studies were incomplete,
and it soon grew more and more apparent that a consideration of the entire sub-
ject, and a certain familiarity with the powers of the poison must still, of necessity,
precede an investigation of antidotes. Impressed with this idea, I have endeavored,
in the present paper, to render more easy the still difficult task of examining the
therapeutics of Ci'otalus bite.
It was well said by a distinguished physician, that there are always a great num-
ber of medicines for those diseases which are either very easy or very difficult to
• cure. Such has been the fate of Crotalus poisoning to a remarkable degree, for
not only have physicians exhausted their ingenuity in the discovery of antidotes,
but the popular medicine of log-cabin, or rough border clearings, has contributed
to its strange therapeutics, some twenty or thirty plants which owe their reputation
to Indian traditions, and to other, and often accidental, circumstances.
Each one of these remedies has acquired a local credit ; has passed from the
people to the physicians ; has seemed to cure in their hands, as it had done in those
of the good wife or herb doctor, and finally, after going the rounds of the daily press
and the medical journals, has died a natural death, or received a fatal blow at the
bedside of some too deeply injured patient. Accepted upon slight evidence, and
thrown aside upon equally feeble proof of inutility, such has been the career of
the many and famous antidotes, which in this and other lands have embarrassed
the therapeutics of these much-dreaded injuries.
While, however, the larger part of the reputed constitutional remedies are
OF THE VENOM OP THE RATTLESNAKE. 109
mere sudorifics, or entirely inert, the local therapeutics of Crotalus bite have been
always of the most decisive and potent character. Without entering into the his-
tory of these means, I desire to assign to them their proper place in the treatment,
and also to define the real limits of their utility. We shall, therefore, discuss them
in turn, and for this purpose shall divide them into, 1st, Those which remove the
poison and the poisoned part, as excision, amputation.
2d. Those which partially remove the venom, and more or less detain it in the
wounded part. In this class, we have a variety of agents acting in ways as va-
rious, as
Scarifications. Suctions.
Ligature. Caustics.
3d. Those agents which, being injected into the wound, or wounded part, are
supposed to destroy the venom, or to render it innocuous, as injections of iodine.
4th. Local ajjplications of various substances, as alcohol, ammonia, indigo, olive
oil, etc.
Class 1st. Excision, the only local means which proposes to remove at once and
entirely the poison and the poisoned part has been occasionally resorted to. Dr.
Harlan, Case 14 of the Table, used it freely. In another instance, in France,
even amputation of a finger was promptly and successfully resorted to in a case of
Crotalus bite.
Excision and amputation are more or less usefully available, as the resort to them
is more or less early, and their utility is also increased when a ligature has been so
applied as to arrest the local circulation, immediately after the bite. In the French
case, the instant ablation of the part was perfectly successful; in Dr. Harlan's case
the malady was extremely grave after the operation, and we have, indeed, no
means of saying whether or not it proved useful. It seems likely that in so severe
a case, the removal by excision of any part of the poison might favorably determine
the issue of the almost balanced chances. Necessarily, excision would be unavail-
able where the fang had buried itself deeply in a part like the neck.
Where the snake has been long confined without using its venom,* so that the
amount injected has probably been great, and where the part bitten is a small
extremity, excision, or, rather, amputation, would be justifiable. Where, on ac-'
count of the serpent being at large, we cannot judge as to the quantity of poison
stored up in its ducts, and where excision would affect important parts, it is cer-
tainly better to accept for the patient the ordinary prognostic chances of the poi-
soning, under a less heroic local treatment. Above all, is it to be remembered
that, while it may be good practice to amputate a finger within a few moments
of the bite, the value of the operation lessens as we recede from this period, because
the poison exerts its power so rapidly, that its effects soon pass beyond the reach of
any justifiable operation, and excision then could do only what other and safer
means might effect.
' It is curious that the fatal cases found in the journals were nearly all occasioned by the bite of snakes
which, during long imprisonment, had accumulated a large amount of venom.
110 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
Class 2d of local means acts in ways so various as to make it necessary to con-
sider these separately.
Scarifications. — It is not easy to see how mere incisions could be of much value,
unless made expressly so as to cut off the wound from the system, by destroying
for a time its vascular connection with the centres. Where ablation or excision is
no longer justified, incisions may be made into the part, and so directed as to tra-
verse the line of the fang wounds.
Suction. Cups. — Suction by the mouth is an ancient practice, and one which is
supposed to be effectual. It is not probable that the narrow fang-track would allow
of the return of the poison under any suctorial power of which the lips are capa-
ble, unless the wound were unusually large. Where a previous incision has been
carried deeply through the bitten part, it is possible that suction may remove some
of the venom, but as Dr. Pennock has shown, it is more likely that the cups and
suction merely delay the constitutional poisoning, by retarding the local circulation
and the subsequent distribution of the venom. Either may be thus of value, as
Barry proved in regard to cups, but neither can do more than afford time for the
administration of general and more permanent local means. Cups are available
only in certain localities ; suction by the lips may be used on the small extremities,
in advance of all other means.
Ligatures. — The first resource in serpent bite has been to tie a ligature around the
limb. Of course, there are localities in which this cannot be done, and where only
cups can be used. The value of the ligature has been repeatedly tested, not only
in this, but in other modes of poisoning, and it is perfectly clear that a ligature
tightly applied above the wound will, for a time, secure the system from the con-
sequences of the venom inoculation. But this is all which it can do. Time is
obtained for the use of other means, both local and general, and then a period
arrives when the swelling and interrupted circulation threaten the bitten member
with gangrene, and at last the physician reluctantly loosens the band which qua-
rantined the deadly material, and the system passes rapidly under its influence.
Allowing the ligature — as we must do — to be of the utmost value for a time, can
we not derive from its use yet further advantages, without subjecting our patients
to the sudden influx of the poison when the guarding band is loosened ? Two pre-
cautions will probably insure the requisite end. Let the cord be loosened for a
few minutes at a time, and at intervals, with a constant eye to the constitutional
symptoms, and let the delay secured by the ligature be used not only to apply local
means, but to administer general remedies. This method, which I shall term the
iiitermittent ligature, seems to have been first employed by the well known natu-
ralist, Prof Holbrook, of Charleston, South Carolina, in conjunction with Dr. Ogier.
Their experiments, which were numerous and satisfactory, have never been pub-
lished.
The precautions in the use of the ligature which I have just recommended have
been advocated singly, or together, by several more recent authors, and especially
by Drs. Alexander and Jeter.
Several writers have recognized the danger of suddenly removing the ligature,
and it would be easy to criticize some of the reports of treatment in which the
OP THE VENOM OP THE RATTLESNAKE. HI
above precautions have been neglected, and where the sudden prostration which
ensued was most appalling.
Dr. Alexander relates a singular, but instructive case, in which the ligature
was retained for sixteen hours. Meanwhile, the parts below were swollen and
vesicating, but the system remained unaflfected, and readily passed under the
influence of stimulants. Either during the profound intoxication which ensued, or
soon after, at all events, sixteen hours from the time of the bite, the ligature was
removed. The swelling at once passed the line of the ligating cord, and advanced
up the leg to the body. The patient died in two hours after the release of the
previously isolated poison. Instructed by this sad case, the reporter directs that
the ligature should be merely relaxed, and the pulse kept up with stimulants as
required, and that the cord should be tightened or loosened as the symptoms direct.
This plan is so clearly recommended by common sense, that it is needless to dwell
upon it further.
Unfortunately, the ligature can be used only when the bite is on an extremity.
In other cases, cups may be similarly employed, but even these are not always
available, as where the nose is the part bitten, and moreover, they are not always
at hand.
Caustics. — These agents are supposed to be useful, not only by destroying the
tissues, and so unfitting them for absorption, but also by chemically acting on
the venom itself. So far as they do act on the tissues, they are beneficial,
when fully applied along or through previous incisions. As to their power to alter
the venom, it is clear that the actual cautery does do this effectually, but, as we
have seen, potassa, soda, ammonia, and the undiluted mineral acids do not affect
its toxic potency. Except, then, as they alter the tissues, it were better to reject
them, and to depend upon the actual cautery alone, where such means is deemed of
value.
Class 2>cl. — Dr. Brainard, some time ago, directed attention to the injection of an
iodized solution of iodine, as a means of destroying the activity of Crotalus venom.
His process is as follows : Ten grains of iodine and thirty grains of iodide of potas-
sium are dissolved in one ounce of water. The bitten part is first cupped, or a
ligature is applied on the limb, until the tissues ai'e swollen with serum sufficiently
to enable the injection to be diffused through the distended areolar spaces. The
sharp point of a trocar, or injecting-tube, is then pushed laterally into the bitten
part, and the injection effected by pressing down the piston of the syringe, while
the exhaustion of the cup is still carried on. Apart from the antidotal value of
this ingenious method, it is clear that the necessary apparatus is not easily procu-
rable in time to be of use. Moreover, Dr. Brainard adds that, to render it
effectual, we must be provided with cups of various curves adapted to fit the
surfaces of the body and limbs. Dr. Brainard states that the iodine does not act
as a caustic. M. Reynose, in an admirable paper, has examined the statements of
Dr. Brainard, and especially with reference to the action of iodine as an antidote
to woorara. He arrived at the conclusion that the iodine was a caustic, and that
its value was due to this fact, a conclusion in which his experiments did not entirely
justify him.
112 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
The question of the reality of the influence of the iodine upon the active qualities
of Crotalus venom still rests upon rather insecure ground. It certainly seems to
have been successful in pigeons, but the fallacies which surround these researches
are numerous and bafiling, and the experimentum crucis of mixing the iodine with
the venom before innoculating with it, was not made by Dr. Brainard. To set the
matter at rest, I have recently made a number of expeidments. It was apparent
that if animals previously bitten could be saved by subsequent injections of iodine
into the part, they should run no risk when a mixture of venom and the iodine
solution was thrown into their tissues. On pursuing this method, I observed, as
Dr. Brainard had done, that the local symptoms were slight, or did not appear at
all, but whereas his cases recovered, mine died despite the absence of local pheno-
mena. The explanation of this latter fact, as well as the full details of numerous
observations upon the use of reputed constitutional antidotes, I shall set forth at
length in a future essay. At present I can only add that iodine as a local antidote
has uniformly failed in my hands, although every means was taken to give it a
fair trial. It is proper to state here that Dr. Brainard made use, not of the Cro-
talus, but of the Crotalopliorus tergeminus, or prairie Rattlesnake of the west. As
yet. Dr. Brainard's antidote has never been employed upon the body of man, except
by Dr. Coolidge, who unfortunately used the Bibron treatment at the same time.
Class ith. — Consists of various substances which have been applied to the skin
on and about the wound, or placed in contact with the raw surfaces of the incisions
or excisions. Among them are warm and cold water, ammonia, alcohol, olive oil,
etc. My own experiments, and the observations of others, justify us in rejecting
them altogether, so far at least as they are supposed to exert specific power.
Although, as I have already said, I consider this essay as but a preparation for
the full experimental examination of the treatment of serpent bite, I do not wish
to conclude without some comment upon the constitutional remedies which I have
necessarily been called upon to survey and judge in the course of my researches.
A host of these may be dismissed with a word, but before I criticize those of greater
pretension, it will be proper to make some statements regarding the misconceptions
which have crept into this part of the subject.
If, as I have elsewhere urged, we could dismiss from view the mode in which the
virus enters the body, and were called upon to consider only the resultant malady,
we would as little have dreamed of specifics or real antidotes, as we now do in
yellow fever, or ordinary putrefactive poisoning. We should at least have con-
fessed that such belonged only to the hopes of therapeutics, and not to its attained
realities. Such, however, is the tangible and visible nature of the poison that we
have been continually seduced into the idea that we must possess some available
and directly efficient means of actually neutralizing its power, when once in the
system itself.
Apart, then, from the question of local antidotes, which is altogether a different
matter, what probability is there that we really possess specific general remedies ?
Even here, the knowledge that our local means, however active, and with all our
power to place them in direct contact with the venom, are but too ineffectual,
should at least have taught us to receive with wise mistrust every account of con-
stitutional antidotes.
OF THE YENOM OF THE RATTLESXAKE. 113
Antidotes considered with reference to the sj'stem at large, are of only two kinds.
Those which meet the poison in the vessels of the economy, and then and there
chemically alter it, so as to destroy its potency, and those which, like most of our
medicines, are absorbed, circulate, and cotmteract the effects of the poison. Thus a
sedative may counteract a stimulant, and vice versa, and each would, in this sense,
be for the other a physiological antidote,- but would in nowise correspond with the
popular conception of an antidote.
The remedies which still hold repute as antidotes are few in number. They are
ammonia, olive oil, arsenic (as the Tanjore pill), Bibron's antidote (Bromine), and
alcoholic stimuli.
The pretensions of ammonia in this connection have been long since settled by
the experiments of Fontana on Vipers, and of Brainard on Crotalophorus. I have
also tested its supposed utility in cases of animals poisoned by Crotalus venom, and
it will answer our present purpose to add that it failed almost uniformly. Notwith-
standing the continued faith still reposed in it by some, and the cures attributed to
its use, I am convinced that it has no powers which alcohol does not enjoy to a superior
degree, and I feel equallj^ sure that its exhibition should never be allowed to sup-
plant the use of other and better stimulants. That it has no value as a chemical
antidote, the experiments elsewhere related in this paper sufficiently prove, if proof
were wanting.
Olive oil is another remedj' which has been gravely urged and has received the
support of numerous successful cases. What these are worth, or with what allow-
ance they should be entertained, has, I trust, been set in clear light by the general
argument which I have founded on all the cases which I have analyzed. After
the experiments of Fontana on its use in Viper poisoning, it is strange that the
most confident should have dared to employ it again.
Arsenic, unlike olive oil, certainly does not belong to the class of expectant
remedies. Its use in snake-bites comes from the East, where as the " Tanjore
pill" it attained great celebrity.
This well-known medicine is composed of arsenious acid, three East Indian roots,
two of which are purgative, and one an acro-narcotic, mixed with pepper and the
juice of the wild cotton plant. Two of the pills, containing each three-fourths of
a grain of the arsenic, are given at once, and one at the close of an hour, a rather
formidable dose of so active a medicine. Russell (p. 6-5), who examined this
remedy, was not satisfied with it, nor am I aware that it has retained its celebrity,
or that any one has used it in Rattlesnake bite.
Bibron's antidote is a more novel remedy, of the value of which I am not fully
prepared to judge. Its history is rather curious. Mr. Xantus obtained it in the
first place from Prince Paul, of Wurtemberg, the well-known traveller and natu-
ralist. This gentleman stated that it had been invented and employed by Prof.
Bibron, of Paris, but neitlier Mr. Xantus or Dr. Hammond has been able to find
any printed account of it, nor have I been more successful. The chief evidence in
its favor rests upon a considerable number of experiments made by Dr. Hammond
and Mr. Xantus, and upon three cases reported by the same observers. Mr.
Xantus states one fact which I have been thus far unable to verify, namely, that
15
lU PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
dogs which were under the influence of the antidote, were for some time incapable
of being affected by Rattlesnake bites. This exjDerimenter states that after seven-
teen experiments, in which three dogs were at different times bitten by seventeen
different serpents, he met with no cose in which the antidote failed. These
results are not stated with sufficient precision as to the condition of the snake,
the number of fang-marks, or the place of the bite, but they are still sufficiently
interesting to awaken further research.
Dr. Hammond was not so fortunate as Mr. Xantus. He experimented with
the antidote on a wolf which was apparently saved by the use of the bromine after
being once bitten, but upon another occasion, having been thrice bitten, died sud-
denly, exhibiting, however, some evidence of having been aided by the remedy.
A dog severely injured by snake-bite was successfully treated by Dr. Hammond
with the bromine antidote.
One of the cases of man in which Dr. Coolidge (Dr. Hammond's Report) used
this antidote, was also treated with local injection of iodine, and must, therefore,
be laid aside. The patient expressed herself relieved by the use of the antidote.
The case directly reported by Dr. Hammond also seemed to experience great
assistance from the antidote, so that even the local symptoms were promptly
relieved by its use. No local means seem to have been employed, and the case is
thus unusually free from complication.
Mr. Xantus' case was said to have been almost hopeless when the bromine
was employed. The worst symptoms rapidly subsided when the antidote was given,
although but two doses were used. Were it not for our knowledge of the natural
history of the malady, and of the strange suddenness with which cases almost mori-
bund rapidly amend, we could not fail to be greatly impressed with the evidence
thus furnished. As it is, perceiving no obvious adaptation of means to ends, we
can only await the issues of a larger and more general experience to determine
the question.
My own experiments upon the use of this antidote were made on sixteen dogs,
and were conducted with scrupulous cai'e. It does not suit my present purpose to
enter into the details; it will suffice to state that their results were nearly negative.
Of eight dogs bitten and treated with the antidote, two died; while of eight bitten,
and not so treated, three died.
The last of the reputed antidotes which we shall criticize is alcoholic stimulus.
In one form or another this has been employed in India and in this country, and
no single remedy is so much in repute along our borders or in our Rattlesnake
regions. Perhaps the evidence in its favor is not much better than that which
exists for some other means, but its real strength, in the lack of proper and nume-
rous reports, lies in its obvious adaptation to the wants of those who seek its aid.
Moreover, the experiments on the state of the heart and nervous system of animals,
in the first stage of the Crotalus malady, clearly indicate a condition of things which
is to be met alone by the use of supporting agents, and these the most rapid and
effective which we can command.
When, too, we consider the state of a person bitten, and constitutionally affected,
we perceive at once that we have to deal with a degree of prostration which instantly
OP THE VENOM OP THE RATTLESNAKE. 115
suggests the free use of stimulus. When this is given, and is successful in raising
the pulse, the result is commonly a rapid and easy cure, but the amount of alco-
holic fluids necessary to secure even partial intoxication is scarcely credible.
Quarts of brandy have been thus taken by delicate females and mere children with-
out injury, and almost without effect. This alone is, to some extent, evidence in
favor of the remedial means under discussion.
It is very plain, then, that in the state of profound sedation, or, rather, prostra-
tion, which ushers in the general maladj^, stimulants are distinctly indicated. It
is also clear that the means thus pointed out is a physiological antidote, a coun-
teractive agent, and is to be used to an effect and with certain precautions.
When, therefore, a person has been bitten, it would be proper slightly to intoxi-
cate him, then to loosen the previously applied ligature or cup, and watching
the pulse, and relaxing or tightening the ligating cord to control thus the inlet of
the poison, with the aid of the stimulus destroy its effects in detail. Finally, the
stimulus should be most cautiously and by degrees abandoned, with continued re-
gard to the state of the system.
There is a popular, I might almost have said a medical belief, that the condition
of perfect protection is complete intoxication. Two or three authors, as Jeter,
Alexander, and others, protest against this idea, and with every appearance of right
on their side.
Profound drunkenness is a condition of sedation and not of excitement, and yet
the whole object of using alcohol in snake-bites has been among rational men to
stimulate and not to lull or depress the system. In fact, it is well known that per-
sons who were at the time " dead drunk," or nearly so, have been bitten by Rattle-
snakes, and have obtained thereby no immunity from the effects of the bite. Dr.
Brainard, who is opposed to the use of stimulus in Crotalus bite, thinks the evidence
in its favor insufficient, and thus sums up his argument against its utility: —
"When mixed with alcohol, the venom is rapidly fatal, if inoculated." This
opinion is correct, but has no value as in opposition to the constitutional use of
stimuli, because they are not to be regarded as chemical antidotes, and their direct
reaction with the venom becomes, therefore, a matter of indifference.
Dr. Brainard also urges that when venom is injected into the tissues, or intro-
duced into the stomachs of birds or small animals bitten, it only hastens death.
This, he adds,. is not conclusive, because alcohol is a poison to birds and other
small animals. The authority for these statements I have been unable to find.
It is not Fontana, and I cannot discover in Dr. Brainard's papers that the conclu-
sion here stated is based upon his own experiments. If true, it would have little
value, the real point in question being whether stimulation is useful in cases of
Crotalus bite. To determine this, we should intoxicate animals and then inocu-
late them with known amounts of venom, or first inoculate and then give the
stimulant. Moreover, we should resort to as large animals as can easily be
managed ; the venom being so fatal to all small animals, and especially to birds,
as to give but little time for remedies. Again, in small animals, and particularly
in birds, it is not always easy to ascertain and govern the degree of stimulation
which may be present or desirable.
116 PHYSIOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY
The last argument against stimulants used hj Dr. Brainard, is the fact that
intoxicated persons have died from Crotalus bite. He states that he has authentic
information as to four such cases. Now it is plain, as I have urged, that deep
drunkenness is not -the condition which we desire, and it is most probable that a
person who was in this state would be overcome by the venom with more than
common facility, as indeed may be inferred from Dr. Brainard's statement. If,
however, the cases which he refers to wei'e only somewhat intoxicated when bitten,
it would be very requisite to know whether or not any means were taken to sus-
tain the stimulation, without which the primary state of excitement Avould very
soon disappear before the terrible depression caused by the poison.
The remaining instance of death from a bite given to an intoxicated man is the
case of Adam Lake, reported by Dr. Horner. The particulars are as follows:
The patient was in the habit of drinking daily from half a pint to one pint of
alcoholic liquors, and, as was seen at the autopsy, was constitutionally the worse
for this habit. When somewhat intoxicated, he was bitten at the bend of the arm,
both fangs entering. Some time, I presume at least two or three hours, passed by
before he sought aid, and during this period so little effect was produced that he paid
no attention to the wound until the itching annoyed him. From this time he was
under treatment, the arm rapidly swelling and becoming painful. Now, Crotalus
poison may produce but slight local effects, but when it is in such amount as finally
to kill, it does not long delay the exhibition of its influence on the system. Yet in
this person, who did afterwards die, some time evidently elapsed without any con-
stitutional expression of poisoning. Was this reprieve due to the partial intoxica-
tion of the sufferer? Whatever answer we may give, it is quite clear that this
was no case to quote against the use of stimulants, since, in addition to what I have
urged, we learn yet further that with the exception of a little ammonia and two
half-ounce doses of sp. vin. dilut., used late in the malady, he took no stimulants,
and "that no regular effort was made to sustain or renew the primary stimulation,
which, at first, had so guarded his system.
It sometimes happens that the physician finds it impossible to produce stimula-
tion in the presence of so potent a sedative as the venom. When this is the case,
it is possible that absorption does not occur with sufficient rapidity, or at all events,
that cases may occur, where it is necessary to stimulate fully and suddenly.
Under these circumstances I would recommend inhalation of the fumes of warm
alcohol, or even of ether if used with caution.
While advocating the employment of stimuli as rational therapeutic means of
meeting a most obvious indication, it is jDroper to admit that cases have been and
will be encountered, in which the dose of venom has been so great, that no remedy
is of any avail. Such, however, must be rare, and it is on the whole more than
probable that the danger from the bite of the Rattlesnake has been over-estimated,
and that in a large majority of cases the patient would recover, even if unassisted
by any remedy.
Where stimulants are of any use, the patient commonly recovers without further
difficulty. In some cases, howevei', which attain to the stage of alteration in the
blood, we have to deal with conditions which are also present in other cases of
OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 117
putrefactive poisoning, but for wlijch we have no remedies of well determined
power. Possibly, tonics, astringents, and continued stimulation might be of some
value in supporting the strength until the blood recovers its normal condition.
In the foregoing brief indication of my views as to the proper treatment of Cro-
talus bite, I have endeavored to make it plain that in the absence of any certain
specific, this malady should be treated as the symptoms dictate, and that no other
guide can. be safely or conscientiously followed in the present condition of the
therapeutics of this mode of poisoning.
It would be improper to close these pages without repeating that I have given
my views as to treatment, in the briefest and most condensed manner, and that
every criticism of the treatment advised by others, and every remedial method
recommended by mj'self, rests upon the authority of experiments which I shall
detail at length on a future occasion.
I sincerely trust that the publication of this essay may induce the physicians of
this country to study more zealously, and record more exactly, every case of snake
poisoning which may fall under their notice, since, without such aid, it is impossible
for the most ardent student to do justice to the subject, and since it is only by a
large accumulation of experience, that any fair appreciation of the true value of
remedies can be attained.
APPENDIX A.
AN ENUMERATION OF THE GENERA AND SPECIES OF RATTLESNAKES,
WITH SYNONYMY AND REFERENCES.
By E. D. cope.
That large assemblage of serpents, known as the Viperidaa of Bonaparte, Viperina
of Gray, or Solenoglyphes of Dumeril, exhibits the most perfect degree of develop-
ment of those points of structure which distinguish all venomous serpents from
■ those that are innocuous. Of the subgroups of genera and species contained in this
" famil}'," or " suborder," none is more truly representative than that denominated
by the authors just mentioned, Crotalina, Crotalidas, and Crotaliens respectively,
and which is characterized by the possession of a deep pit in the maxillary region,
in front and below the level of the eye. Preeminent among the Crotalina for size,
strength, and power of inflicting injury, are those species in which the tail termi-
nates in a jointed corneous appendage, termed the rattle, from which their name
of Rattlesnakes is derived. These serpents exhibit two types of form, which are
distinguished by the following characters: —
Anterior part of the top of the head covered by small scales. Cabpisona.
Anterior part of the top of the head covered by nine plates, symmetrically arranged. Crotalus.
In the following pages will be given an enumeration of the species of these two
genera, under their correct names, with a description of the Gaudisona horrida,
the species which has been the subject of Dr. Mitchell's experiments.
II.
CAUDISONA Laurenti.
1168. Caudisona : Laurenti, Specimen Synopsis Reptilium, p. 92.
1189. Crotalus: Lacepede, Histoire Naturelle des Serpens, II, 130. Nee Linnsei.
1802. " Daudin, Histoire Naturelle des Reptiles, V, 291.
1811. " CuviER, Rfegne Animal, II, *l*l.
1830. " Wagler, Naturlich. Syst. der Amphibien, p. 116.
1831. " ScHLEGEL, Essai sur le Physionomie des Serpens, II, 555.
1842. " Gray, Zoological Miscellany, p. 51.
1843. " FiTziNGER, Systema Reptilium, p. 29. *
1849. " Gray, Catal. Brit. Museum, p. 19.
1853. " Baird et Girard, Catal. Serp. Smiths. Inst., p. 1.
120
GENERA AND SPECIES OP THE RATTLESNAKES.
1854. Crotalus : Dumeeil, Erp. Generale, YII, 1453.
1830. Uropsophus : "Wagler, Natur. Syst. der Amph., p. 176.
1842. " Gray, Zool. Misc., p. 51.
1843. " FiTziNGER, Syst. Rept., p. 29.
1849. " Gray, Cat. Brit. Mus., p. 19.
1843. TJrocrotalon : Fitzi.\gee, Systema Reptilium, p. 29.
Caudisona durissa.
1V68. Caudisona durissa: Laxjrenti, Spec. Syu. Rept, p. 93. Esclus. cit. Catesb. et Habitat.
1166. Crotalus durissus : Linn^us, Syst. Nat. Edit., XII, I, 312. Citatio prima; [Amoen. Acad.,
I, 500, 1148. Crotalo2Dhon(S durissus, descriptio prima, p. 501, nee
secunda']. Citatio tertia falsa ; [_Seba II, 95, f. 2, Gaud, terrifica
delineoAur'].
1188. " " var. y. Gmelin, Linn. Syst. Nat, I, 1081.
1789. " " Lacepede, Hist Nat Serp., II, 423, Excl. cit Laurenti. Nee " Le Du-
rissus," tab. sviii, f. 3, p. 390, ubi C. liorrida (hujus enumerationis)
delineatur.
1790. " " Bonnaterre, Opliiologie, p. 2.
1817. " " CuviER, Rfegne Animal, II, 78.
1820. " " Merrem, Syst. Amphib., p. 156. Homonyma accurate enumerata.
1830. " " Griffith, Cuv. Regne Animal, IX, 267.
1853. " " Le Conte, Proc. Acad. Nat Sci. Philada., 1853, 416.
1859. " " Cope, Proc. A. N. S., p. 337. Exclus. homon. C. cascavella Wagl. etspec.
"No. 3."
1802. " horridus : Daudin, Hist. Nat Rept, V, 311. Exclus. cit Linn. Laurenti, Lacepede.
" " Wagler, Nat Syst. Amph., p. 176. Exclus. homon. C cascavella Wagl.
1837. " " ScHLEGEL, Essai, II, 561. Exclus. cit Laurenti, Wagler, Neuwied.
1854. " " DrjiERiL, BiBRON, VII, 1472. Exclus. cit Linn. Wagl. (in Spix Serp.
Braz.), Neuw. ?Gray.
Icones — ?Seba, tab. xlv, 4. ?Bonnat, tab. iii, f. 1. Daudin, V, 69, I. ? Schlegel, Essai, tab. xx,
xii, xiii, xiv. ?Dum. Bibr., Ixxxiv, bis, 2. ??Cuv. Regne Animal (Edit. Audouin, Blanch.
etc.), pi. xxxii. Diet. Sci. Nat. Cloquet, Poiss. et Rept, t xxiv.
Habitat. — In Guiana, ? Mexico.
Excl. fig. 1, tab. XVIII, etcit
Caudisona terrifica.
Laurenti, Spec. Syn. Rept, p. 93.
Lacepede, Hist. Nat. Serp., II, 130, 390.
Kalm.
Daudin, Hist Rept, V, 321.
: Wagler, Spix Serp. Braz., 60.
' Daud :" Neuw. Naturgeschichte Brazil., p. 435.
?Gray, Catalogue Brit Mus., p. 20. Exclus. cit. Linn. Daudin, Schlegel;
et homonym, horridus, adamanteus, rhombifer, Oregonus.
BoiE, Isis von Oken, p. 562.
Icon. — Seba, xcv, f. I. Spix Serp. Braz., xxiv. Neuwied Naturgeschichte Braz., tab. ?
Habitat. — In Brasilia, Guiana.
1768.
Caudisona terrifica :
1789.
Crotalus boiquira :
1802.
" simus :
i824.
" cascavella
1825.
" horridus "
1849.
" "
1827.
" durissus :
Caudisona Loeflingii.
1833. Crotalus Loeflingii: Humboldt, in Humboldt et Bonpland, Recueil d'Observ. de Zoologie et
Anat Comp., p. 6.
Habitat. — In Venezeula.
GENERA AND SPECIES OF THE RATTLESNAKES. 121
Caudisona adamantea.
1799. Crotalus adamanteus: Pal. de Beauvois, Trans. Am. Phil. Soc, lY, 368.
18i2. " " HoLBROOK, N. Am. Herp., Ill, 17.
1853. " " Baikd et Gieard, Catal. Serp. Smiths. Inst., p. 3.
1853. " " Le Conte, South. Med. and Surg. Journ., IX, 664.
1790. " ?hoiTidus: Bonnat. Ophiologie, p. 1. Excl. cit. Linn. Mus. Ad. Fried, et Tab.
"1801. " rhombifer: Latreiixe, Hist. Rept, III, 197."
1802. " " Daudin, Hist. Rept., Y, 525.
1854. " " DmiERiL, BiBRON, Erp. Gen., VII, 1471.
1802. " durissus : Shaw, Gen. Zool., Ill, 333.
1853. " temficus: Le Conte, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philada., VI, 419. Exclus. honion. CawJi-
sona terrifica Laur., p. 418.
1859. " " Cope, Loc. cit., p. 337. Exclus. homon. terrifica Laur.
1842. ? Crotalus Oregonus : Holbrook, N. Am. Herp., IH, 21.
1853. " " Baird et Girard, Cat. Serp., p. 145.
Icones.— ? Shaw, Gen. Zool., Ill, t. Ixxxix. Daudin, Hist. Rept, V, pi. Ix, figs. 22, 23. Holbrook,
N. Amer. Herp., Ill, t. ii. U. S. Pacific R. R. Rept. Reptiles, tab. xxiv, f. 2.
Habitat. — In "United States" orientalibus circa oram Maris Mexican! et "South Carolina," in
America Septentrionali.
Caudisona atrox.
1853. Crotalus atrox: Baird et GraARD, Catal. Serp. Smiths. Inst., p. 5.
1859. " " Baird, U. S. and Mex. Boundary Surv. Reptiles, p. 14. TJ. S. Pacific R. R.
Rept, X. Whipple's Rept., p. 39.
Icones.— TJ. S. and Pac. R. R. Rept. Reptiles, t. xxiv, f. 3. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey,
Reptiles, t. i.
Habitat. — In Texas.
Caudisona lucifer.
1852. Crotalus lucifer: Baird et Girard, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philada., p. 177, et (1853), Cata-
logue, p. 6.
1858. " " Girard, Herpetology U. S. Expl. Exped., p. 187.
1859. " " Baird, U. S. Pacif. R. R. Report N, Williamson's Report, p. 10.
1859. " " Cooper et Suckley, Nat. Hist. Wash. Terr., p. 295.
Icones. — U. S. Pac. R E. Surv. Rept. Reptiles, Williamson's Rept Reptiles, tab. xi. Girard,
Herp. U. S. Ex. Exp., tab. xv, figs. 1-6.
Habitat. — In Oregon, California.
Caudisona Le Contei.
1852. Crotalus Le Contei : Hallowell, Proc. Acad. Nat Sci. Philad., VI, 180.
1853. ■ " " " Rept. Exped. Zuni and Colorado Rivs. Sitgreaves, p. 139.
1859. " " " U. S. Pac. R. R. Rept., X, Williamson's Rept., p. 18.
1853. " confluentus : " Say," Baird et Girard, Catal. Serp. Smiths. Inst., p. 8. Exclus.
homon. C. coiifluentus Say.
1859. " ■" Baird, U. S. and P. R. R. Surv. Rept, Whipple's Rept, p. 40. IJ. S.
and Mex. Bound. Surv. Reptiles, p. 14.
1859. " " Cooper et Suckxet, Nat. Hist. Wash. Ter., p. 295.
Icones. — Sitgreave's Exped. Colorado and Zuni, tab. xviii (icon pej.). U. S. Pac. R. R. Surv.
Rept. Reptiles, tab. xxiv, fig. 4. DM. Williamson's Rept. Reptiles, tab. iii. Cooper and
Suckley, Nat. Hist. Wash. Terr., tab.'xii.
Habitat — In Nebraska usque ad " Rocky Mountains," Texas et "New Mexico."
16
122
GENERA AND SPECIES OF THE RATTLESNAKES.
Caudisona confluenta.
1823. Crotaliis coufluentus : S.\Y, Long's Exped. Rocky Mts., II, 48.
Icon. — Nulla.
Habitat. — "Red River," circa foutes.
Caudisona tigris.
1869. Crotalus tigris: Kennicott, U. S. et Max. Boundary Surv., II, Reptiles, p. 14.
Icon. — Loc. cit., tab. iv.
Habitat. — In Eremis Gila et Colorado, "New Mexico."
Caudisona lugu^bris.
1859. Crotalus lugubris : Jan, Rev. et Mag. de Zoologie, p. 156.
Icon. — Jan Prodrome d'un Iconogr. Descr. Ophid., tab. E, f. 4.
Habitat. — In Mexico.
Caudisona horrida.
1166. Crotalus horridus : LiNNaitJS, Syst. Nat. Ed. XII, I, 512. Primo cit. Mus. Ad. Er., I, 39, nbi
"Frons tecta squamis obtusissimis, palpebras superiores planse magnae"
legatur. Porro Catesby Carol. Hist. (A) et Amoenitat. Acad. (B) citantur.
(A. "Vijpera caudisona americana," et "V. c. a. minor" describuntur, pp.
41, 42; sed "V. c. a. minor cajjuf scutis magnis instructum habet."^)
(B. In. Amoen. Acad., II, 139. G. durissa {hujus enumerationis)
(Amoen. Acad., I, 500) citatur! et " Virginianis rattlesnake" denomi-
natur !) Secundo cit. Seba, 95, f. 1, ubi C. terrifica delineatur I !
1802. " " Shaw, Gen. Zool., Ill, 311.
1811. " " CuviER, Regne Animal, II, 18.
1830. " " Gray, Synopsis Rept., p. 18.
?1830. " " GuERiN, Iconogr. R. Anim., tab. n. 23, f. 2.
1831. " " Griffith, Cuv. Regne Animal, IX, 2I»1.
1853. - " " Le Conte, Proc. Acad. Nat. Soi. Philada., VI, 411.
1859. " " Cope, Proc. Acad. Philada., p. 338.
"1801, " durissus: Latreille, Hist. Rept., Ill, 190."
1802. " " Daudin, Hist. Rept., V, 304. Exclus. cit. Linn. Laurenti, Lacep.
1825. " " Harlan, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philada., p. 368. Exclus. cit. Linn. Laar.
Ibid. Med. and Phys. Res., p. 132.
1831. " " ScHLEGEL, Essai sur le Phys. Serp., II, 365. E.xclus. descrip. color., p. 366,
et homon. UropsopJms trisei'iatiis Wagl. et C7-ot. confiuentiis Say.
1839. " " Storer, Report, Rept. Mass., p. 233.
1842. " " HoLBROOK, N. Am. Herp., Ill, 9. Exclus. cit. Linn.
1842. " " De Kat, Zoology of New York, pt. Ill, 55. Exclus. cit. Linn. Say.
1853. " " Le Conte, Southern Med. and Surg. Journ., p. 663.
1853. " ■ " Baird et Girard, Catal. Serp. Smiths. Inst., p. 1. Exclus. cit. Linn.
1854. " " Baird, Serpents of New York, p. 9. Exclus. cit. Linn.
1854. " " DuMERiL et Bibron, Erp. Gen., VII, 1465. Exclus. cit. Linn. Latreille,
Wagler.
1859. " " Baird, IJ. S. Pac. R. R. Espl. Surv., X. Whipple's Rept. Reptiles, p. 39.
Exclus. cit. Linn.
1859. " " ? Jan, Rev. et Mag. de Zool., p. 153.
' Linnaeus Syst. Nat., in C. miliarii diagnosi.
GENERA AND SPECIES OF THE RATTLESNAKES. 123
"1801. Crotalus atricaudatus : Latrehle, Hist. Rept., Ill, 209."
1827. " " ?BoiE, Isis von Oken, p. 562.
1830. " " ?Wagler, Nat. Syst. Amphib., p. m.
1842. " " Gray, Zool. Miseell., p. 51.
1843. Urocrotalon durissus : Fitzinger, Syst. Rept., p. 29.
1849. Uropsoplius durissus: Gray, Catal. Brit. Mus., p. 19. Exclus. cit. Linn, et homon. confiu-
entus Say, rliombifer Latr., triseriatus Wiegm. Wagl. Gray.
1826. ? Crotalus Catesbaei Hempr. : Fitzinger, Neue Class, p. 63, fide Gray.
1851. ?Urocrotalon Catesbyanum Fitz. : Diesing, Syst. Helminth., II, 431.
Icones. — Catesby, Hist. Car., II, tab. slii. Lacepede, Serp., II, tab. xviii, f 3. Shaw. Zool.
Ill, t. Ixxxviii. Daudin, Y, t. Ixviii. Guerin, Iconogr. R. Animal, t. xxiii, f. 2. Schlegel,
Essai, XX, f. 15, 16. Diet. Univ. Hist. Nat. Atlas, II, t. xiii, f. 1. Dum. Bibr. Erp. Gen.
Atlas, t. Ixxxiv, bis. fig. 1. Holbrook, N. Am. Herp., Ill, t. i. De Kay, Zool. New York,
pt. Ill, Atlas, fig. 19. Baird, Serp. New York, t. i, f. 1. TJ. S. Pac. R. R. Expl. Rep.
X, Reptiles, t. xxiv, fig. 1.
Habitat. — In "United States" orientalibus, usque ad "The Plains."
This species may be distinguished by the following peculiarities : —
Upon the top of the extremity of the muzzle there are two subtriangular shields
(prefrontals) in contact with each other. A large oval shield covers the region
over each eye (superciliary). These shields are in contact anteriorly upon each
side with a smaller one, which is in contact anteriorly with the prefrontal, and
forms upon each side, the external shield of a cross series (post-frontals)' imme-
diately behind the prefrontals, which is usually composed of five plates. The
remaining part of the upper surface of the head is covered with small subtuber-
culous scales.
The shields bounding the upper lip (superior labials) are from twelve to fourteen
in number, the fourth or fifth the largest ; those bounding the lower lip (inferior
labials) thirteen to fifteen. Three rows of scales separate the eye from the supe-
rior labials. Two plates in front of the eye (preoculars), the lower usually reach-
ing the pit in the side of the face; the upper larger, and separated from the
hinder of the two plates between which the nostril is pierced (nasals), by two or
more small plates (loreals). The scales of the body are in twenty-three or twenty-
five longitudinal rows, all keeled, the row on each side next the shields of the ab-
domen (gastrostega) faintly.
The ground color above varies from bright yellowish tawny or fulvous to black
brown ; beneath from whitish yellow to black gray. A light line extends from the
superciliary plate to the angle of the mouth, behind which is a dark band or blotch.
Upon each side of the medial dorsal line there are two series of brown or black
spots. The spots of the upper or medial series are larger, rhomboid, running
obliquely upwards and backwards. They are frequently confluent across the
middle line of the back anteriorly; always upon the posterior half of the body.
The spots of the lower series encroach slightly upon the gastrostega, and poste-
riorly, unite with those of the middle series, to form zigzag cross bands. Ante-
riorly they sometimes alternate with the central series, or rather become confluent
with an indefinite alternating series, and joining the extremities of the former,
enclose the ground color, which thus forms a series of light spots. Of these trans-
verse bands or rows of spots there are twenty-one, more or less, from the head to
124 GENERA AND SPECIES OP THE RATTLESNAKES.
the anus. In southwestern specimens, a narrow rufous band frequently extends
along the median dorsal line throughout the whole length. Tail nearly always
entirely black.
This species is found from Maine to Kansas, and from Louisiana to Florida.
Caudisona molossus.
1853. Crotalus molossns: Baird et Girard, Catal. Rept. Smiths. Inst, p. 10.
1859. " " Baird, U. S. et Mex. Bound. Surv. Reptiles, p. 14.
1854. " ornatus: Hallowell, Proc. A. N. S. Philada., VII, 192, etc.
1859. " " " U. S. Pac. R. R. Expl. Rept, Parlie's Rept Reptiles, p. 23.
Iconjes. — U. S. Pac. R. R. Rept Reptiles, xxiv, f. 5. Ibid., Parke's Rept., tab. ii. U. S. and
Mex. Bound. Surv., tab. iii.
Habitat — In "New Mexico."
Caudisona lepida.
1860. Caudisona lepida : Kennicott, MSS.
Icon. — Nulla.
Habitat. — In Texas australi.
Caudisona cerastes.
1854. Crotalus cerastes : Hallowell, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philada., p. 95.
1859. " " " U. S. Pac. R. R. E.xpl. Rept Williamson's Rep. Rept, p. n.
1859. " " Baird, U. S. and Mex. Bound. Surv. Reptiles, p. 14.
Icon. — U. S.'et Mex. Bound. Surv., pi. iii.
Habitat. — In Eremis Colorado et Gila.
CROTALUS LiNNiEUS.
1766. Crotalus : LiNNiEus, Syst Nat Ed., XII, 312.
1T88. " Gmelin, Syst Nat., I, 1080.
1T90. " BoNNATERRE, Ophiologie,_p. 1.
1820. " Merrem, Tent Syst Amphib., p. 156.
1827. " BoiE, Isis, p. 562.
1825. Crotalophorus : Gray, Ann. Philosophy, p. 205.
1849. " " Cat Brit Mus., p. lY.
1842. " HoLBROOK, N. Amer. Herp., Ill, 25.
1853. " Baird et Girard, Cat. Serp. Smiths. Inst., p. 11.
1826. Caudisona: Fitzinger, Neue Class. Rept., p. 63.
1830. " Wagler, Nat Syst. Amphib., p. ITB.
1832. " Bonaparte, Saggio, p. 24.
1842. " Gray, Zool. Misc., p. 51.
1843. " Fitzinger, Syst Rept, p. 29.
Crotalus miliarius.
1766. Crotalus miliarius : Linn^us, Syst Nat Ed., XII, v. I, 372.
1188. " " Gmelin, Linn. S. N., I, 1080.
1789. " " Laoepede, Hist. Serp., II, 421.
1190. " " Bonnaterre, Ophiol., p. 1.
GENERA AND SPECIES OF THE RATTLESNAKES.
125
1802. Crotalus miliarius : Shaw, III, 336.
1802. " " Daudin, Hist. Rept., V. 328.
1817. " " CuviER, Regne Animal, II, T9.
1820. " " Merrem, Syst. Amphib., p. 156.
182T. " " BoiE, Isis, p. 562.
]83'7. " " ScHLEGEL, Essai, II, 569. Exclus. homon. C. tergeminus B&j.
1854. " " DuMERiL, BiBRON, Erp. Gen., YII, lill.
1825. Crotalophorus miliarius : Gray, Ann. Philos., p. 205.
1830. " " " in Griff. Regne Anim., p. Y8.
1842. " " HoLBROOK, N. Am. Herp., p. 25.
1849. " " Gray, Catalogue Brit. Mas., p. IT.
1853. " " Baird et Girard, Cat. Serp. Smiths. Inst., p. 11.
1859. " " Baird, U. S. Pac. R. R. Bxpl. Rep., X. Whipple's Rept., p. 40.
1826. Caudisona miliaria : Fitzingee, Neue Class., p. 63.
1830. " " Wagler, Nat. Syst. Amph., p. 176.
1842. " " Gray, Zool. Misc., p. 51.
1843. " " FiTziNGER, Syst. Rept., p. 29.
Icones. — Catesby, Hist. Car., II, t. xlii. ?Bonnaterre, Ophiologie, t. i, f. 1. Schlegel, Essai,
t. XV, f. 11, 18. Holbrook, N. Am. Herp., Ill, t. It. Bum. Bibr. Erp. Gen., Ixxxiv, bis. f.
5. U. S. Pac. R. R. Surv. Rept, X, Reptiles, t. xxiv, f.
Habitat. — In "United States" circa oram maris Mexicaui, "South Carolina," et Arkansas.
Crotalus Ed-wardsii.
1853. Crotalophorus Edwardsii : BAmD et Giraed, Catal., p. 15.
1854. " " DuMERii, BiBRON, Erp. Gen., VII, 1483.
1859. " " Baird, U. S. and Mex. Bound. Surv., p. 15.
Icones. — U. S. Pac. R. R. Expl. Rept., X, Reptiles, tab. xxiy, fig. 8. U. S. and Mex. Bound.
Surv., t. V, f. 1.
Habitat. — In Texas.
Crotalus tergeminus.
1823. Crotalus tergeminus : Say, Long's Exped. Rocky Mts., I, 499.
1824. " " BoiE, Isis, p. 270.
1827. " " Harlan, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci., V, 372.
1827. " " BoiE, Isis, p. 563.
1854. " " DUMERIL, BiBRON, VII, 1479.
1830. Crotalophorus tergeminus : Gray, Synops. Rept., p. 78.
1842. " " Holbrook, N. Amer. Herp., Ill, p. 29.
1849. " " Gray, Cat. Brit. Mus., p. 18.
1856. " " Baird et Girard, Catal., p. 14.
1842. " Kirtlandii : Holbrook, N. Am. Herp., Ill, 31.
1849. " " Gray, Cat. Brit. Mus., p. 18.
1853. " " Baird et Girard, Catal., p. 16.
1854. " massasauga "Kirtland:" Baird, Serpents of New York, p. 11.
1850. " ? Agassiz, Lake Superior, p. 381.
1830. Caudisona tergeminus: Wagler, Nat. Syst. Amph., p. 176.
Icones. — Holbr. N. Am. Herp., Ill, f. 5, 6, Agassiz, Lake Superior, t. vi, f. 8. Baird, Serp.
New York, t. i, f. 2. Ibid. U. S. Pac. R. R. Expl. Rep., X, Rept., t. xxv, fig.s. 9, 11.
Habitat.— In "Indian Territory," Nebraska, usque ad Michigan et Ohio.
126 GENERA AND SPECIES OP THE RATTLESNAKES.
III.
The descriptions of the following supposed species do not coincide with those
of any species known to modern naturalists : —
Crotalus dryinus: Linn^us, Syst. Nat., I, 312 (1766). Quoted by Gmeliu, Lacepede, Bonuaterre,
Daudin, Merrem.
Crotalus Jiorridus: Boddaert, Nova Acta, VII, 16 (178.3). Quoted by Gmelin, Le Conte.
The following names refer to species which I cannot identify with, or distinguish
from known species either on account of want of specimens, imperfect descriptions,
or references which cannot be unravelled.
Crotalus adamanteus : Jan, Rev. et Mag. ZooL, 1859, p. 153.
Crotalus atricaudatus : Merrem, Syst. Amphib., 157.
Crotalus cumanensis: Humboldt, Hurnb. et Bonpl. Recueil d'Observ., p. 6 (1833).
Crotalus durissus: Boddaert, 1. c. Merrem, 1. c.
" " var. a Gmelin, Syst. Nat., I, 1081 (1788).
Crotalus exalbidus : Boddaert, 1. c.
Crotalus Jiorridus: Jan, Rev. et Mag. ZooL, 1859, 153.
Crotalus rhombifer: Merrem, 1. c.
Caudisona orientalis: Laurenti, Synops., p. 94 {11^9,). = Crotalus sti-epitans Daud., V, 318 (1802).
" Said to be Boa canina." Gray, Synopsis Rept, p. 78.
Caudisona Gronovii: Laurenti, 1. c. Perhaps Lacliesis mutus, Daud.
Uropsophus triseriatus: Waglee, Nat. Syst. Amph., p. 176 (1830). Gray, Cat. Brit. Mus., p. 116.
Perhaps Caudisona lucifer. Prof. Jan. Iconogr. descr. Opliid., p. 29, places this species in Cro-
talus ( Grotalophorus) 1
Crotalopliorus consors: Baird and Girard, 1. c. Baird, U. S. and Mex. Bound. Surv. Reptiles, p. 15.
Ibid. U..S. Pac. R. R. Espl. Rep., X, Repl., pi. xxiv, f. 7.
The following supposed species, according to Boie, Isis, 1827, 562, is Tropido-
notus quincunciatus with a crepitaculum of a Rattlesnake attached : —
Crotalus tessellatus : Hermann, Observat. Zool., p. 271 (1804).
The following species are not Rattlesnakes : —
Crotalus mutus: Linn^us, 1. c. p. 373 et Gmelin, is Lachesis mutus, Daud.
Crotalus piscivorus : Lacepede, 1. c. p. 424 (1789)= C. aquaticus, Bonnat. 1. c. p. 3 (1790), is A^icis-
trodon piscivorus, nobis.
APPENDIX B,
BIBLIOGRAPHY.^
Abbatius (Baldus Angelus). De Admirabili
Yiperas natura et de mirificis ejus facultati-
bus liber. Ragusse, 158T-91, ia 4.
Anatomical description principally of the or-
gans of Generation. [S.]
AcRELL (JoH. Gust.). De morsura Serpentum.
(Linusei Amoenitacad., VI., 97. 1162, in 8.)
An excellent dissertation on the bite of ven-
omous Sei-pents. [S.]
Albertus Magnus. Opus animalium. In fol.
1651.
Reports certain erroneous opinions as to tlie
viper, and denies its cohabitation with the
Lamprey. [S.]
Aldovrandus (Ulysses). Serpentum et Draco-
num liistoria, libr. 11. Francforti, in fol.
1640.
Gives descrijjtions of the viper, etc., with
figvires. [S.]
Alessandrini. Ricerche sulle glandoli salivali dei
Serpenti a denti solcati o veleniferi confron-
tate con quelle proprie delle specie non vele-
nate di Schlegel. (Journ. polygr. de "Verone,
fasc. XXVIII, 47, 18.32.) [S.]
Alexander. Medica commentaria. Edinburgh,
n, decad. IV, B., 45. [S.]
On the employment of L'eau de Luce as a
remedy. [S.]
Alexander, J. B. Alcohol as an antidote. St.
Louis Med. and Surg. Journal, XIII, 116,
1855.
Alos, (JoH.) Dissertatio de Viperis. In 4, 1664.
Treats of medicines made from the flesh of
the viper. [S.]
Amatus Ltjsitanxis. Curationum medicarum cen-
turias. Cent. I. cur. I, fol. 20. Cent. Ill,
cur. 14, fol. 230. [S.]
Andeieux. Coup d'oeil sur les accidents causes
par la morsure des serpents venimeux, enu-
meration des differents moyens employes pour
les combattre. Journ. des Conn. Med. et
Pharm., 181. 1849.
On the action of Mikania Guaco in snake
bites. [S.]
Anel. Art de sucer les playes sans se servir de la
bouche d'un homme. Amsterdam, 1707.
[S.]
Angelini (Bernardino). Del morasso a Vipera
chersea rinvenuto sul territorio Veronese.
(Bibl. Ital., VII, 451.) [S.]
Anselmier (Victor). Dissertation sur les indica-
tions du cautere actuel dans les plaies viru-
lentes et envenimees. (Theses de Paris,
No. CXXIX), 1854.
Reports two successful cases of persons bitten
by vipers ; the actual cautery the best mode
of local treatment. [S.]
AEETj5;trs. De causis et signis acutorum morbo-
rum. (Ed. Haller), libr. II, cap. II, 100,
in 8, 1772.
Speaks of the effect of the bite of the Dipsade
and of the employment of theriao as a re-
medy for the bite of the viper (136). [S.]
Atchison, T. A. Alcohol as an antidote to the
venom of the Crotalus. Southern Journal of
the Med. and Phys. Sciences, I, p. 47, 1853.
Atwell (Joseph). Observations concerning a
man and a woman bitten by a viper.
(Philos. Trans. No. CCCCLXIV, 275,
1736.) [S.]
Reports good results from the employment of
oil in viper bites. [S.]
AtTDOUX. Observations communiquees a M. Ma-
' As a general rule, the authorities upon the natural history of serpents are not included in the list. For those
especially concerning the Rattlesnake, see Mr. Cope's "Genera and Species," p. 119. The works given by Soubeiran
in his excellent Bibliography are marked in mine with the letter [S].
128
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
sars cle Cazeles. (Jour, dc Med., XXXII,
442.)
Reports a case of viper bite treated by applica-
tions of tlie^brnised head of the viper, togetlier
with theriac and a vinous decoction of the
flesh of the viper and of the bark of the ash
tree. Recovery in three days. [S.]
Auzoux (L. I. I.). Dissertation sur la Vip6re.
(Thfeses de Paris, No. CLXII), 1822.
This work gives a general statement of know-
ledge relative to the viper. [S.]
AviCENNE. Canon Medicinas ex Gerardi Cremo-
nensis versione. In fol. II, libr. IV, fen. 6,
tract 3, Venetiis, 1608. De regimine mor-
sionis universali. Et de effngatione veneno-
sorum et de curatione mordicationis Ser-
pentum et speciebus eorum.
Treats of the venom of the viper and of the
treatment of snake-bites. [S.]
Bajon. Memoire pour servir a I'histoire de Cay-
enne. Maladies de Cayenne, I, 352-355.
States that the juice of the Tayove ( Caladium
sagittsefolium') and sugar, are useful in snake-
bites. [S.]
Babicelh. Falsum viperam in coitu masculum
occidere, ipsumque a catulis in partu necari.
Hortulus genialis BononiiB, in 12mo, 161T.
[S.]
Barstow. Account of the singular effects from
the bite of a Rattlesnake. Philadelphia
Med. Museum, III, 61.
The milk of a woman bitten by a rattlesnake,
said to have caused the death of her child, as
well as of two puppies and three lambs em-
ployed to draw off the milk.
Barton (B. S.). On the supposed powers of
Fascination in serpents. [0.] Pamphlet,
Phila., 1814. Also, the same in American
Phil. Trans., Ill, 1793. Also, General Ob-
servations on the Rattlesnake. Am. Phil.
Trans., IV, IT 99.
Bartram. On the teeth of the Crotalus. Engl.
Phil. Trans., abrd. IX, 60, 1793.
Bauderon, Brice. Pharmocopee diusee en deux
liures, p. 360, in 4, Lion, 1640. [S.]
Batjquier (de Saint Ambroix). Observation
d'une morsure de vipere. Journ. de Sci.
Med., XXVIII, 37Y, 1827. [S.]
Batjregard. Anc. Journ. de Med., VI, 233,
1757.
A case of viper bite treated successfully with
the juice of ash leaves, and poultices of the
same, as local treatment. [S.]
Beck. Medical Jurisprudence, II, 537.
Berard. Gazette de Sant(i, No. 16, 1788.
Advises frictions with olive oil in viper bites.
[S.]
Bernard (Claude). Lecons surles effets des sub-
stances toxiques et medicamenteuses, Paris,
1857, p. 388 et seq.
Brief account of viper venom. Experiments
to prove the power of the viper to destroy its
own kind.
Berninck (A.). Dissertatio serpentem sistens
PriKs. S. F. Freuzel. In 4to. Wittebergte,
1665. [S.]
Bertin (J. E.). Ergo specificum vipersB morsus
antidotum aleali volatile. Paris, 149, in 4.
Haller, dissert., p. vi. No. 218. [S.]
Best (J. Ch.). Dissertation sur la morsure de la
vipere fer-de-lance. Thfeses de Paris, No.
106, 1823.
Treats of the cause of death, and thinks that
fright has a great deal to do with the produc-
tion and intensity of the symptoms. [S.]
Blainville. Observations on Crotalus Poisoning.
Bull. " de la Societe Philomatique, Paris,
1825, p. 210. [S.]
Boag (W.). General observations on the bites of
E. Indian serpents. Asiatic Researches,
VI, 103, 1801.
BocHART (S.A.MUEL). Hierozoicon, sive de ani-
malibus scripturse recensuit suis notis, L. F.
C. RosenmuUer, in 4, III, pars ii, lib. iii,
1793-96.
Gives the etymology of the word viper, proves
that it was known to the Hebrews, and cites
many oriental authorities, &c., which make
mention of the animal in question.
Bonaparte (Lucien). Gaz. Tosc. delle sc. medi-
cofis, p. 169, 1843.
Analysis of viper venom, the only one on
record.
Bosc (L. a. G). Vipere Nov. Diet, d'histoire Nat.
Deterville, XXXVI, 82, 1819.
Natural history of the viper, with discussions
as to its habits. [S.]
BouE (J. F.). Dissertation sur la morsure de la
vipere. Theses de Paris, No. 69, 1823.
Advances cases to prove the gravity of the
malady of the viper bite. {S ]
Bodrdelot (Pierre Miohon). Recherches et ob-
servation sur les viperes. Paris, in 12mo.,
also in English, Philos. Trans., VI, 3013,
1671. [S.]
Boyle (Robert). De utilitate philosophiaa expe-
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
129
rimentalis. Pars II, Esercitat, II, par 34
Lindaviffi, 1 in 4to, 1692.
Eeports cures from using a hot iron, wliicli
was brought as near to the wound as it could
he borne by the patient. [S. ]
Brainaed (David, M. D.). On the nature and
cure of the bite of serpents, and the wounds
- of poisoned arrows. Smithsonian Reports,
1854, p. 123.
Describes woorara, and considers that it owes
its poisoning power to a venom. Advocates
the use of iodine as an antidote to be injected
into and about the track of the wounds made
by serpents or by poisoned arrows.
Brainard (David). Essay on a new method of
treating serpent bites and other poisoned
wounds. 8vo. pamphlet, Cliicago, 1854.
Much the same as the last paper (vide supra),
with new observations on the phenomena of
crotalophorous poisoning.
Brainard and Green. Comptes Rendus de I'Aca-
demie des Sciences, p. 811, 1853.
Contains details of obseiTations on the use of
iodine in woorara poisoning and in snake-bites .
Breintnal (C). Engl. Philosophical Trans, abrd.,
X, 229.
Reports his own case of Crotalus bite.
Brickell. New York Medical Repository, Yin,
441, 1805.
Gives his own experiments upon the reaction
of Rattlesnake venom.
Brogiano (Domenico). De Veneno Animantium
naturali et adquisito, p. 38, 4to.
An extremely interesting dissertation on the
effects of viper venom upon the economy of
man.
Brotonne (De). Ergo specificum viperte morsus
an tidotum alcali volatile. Paris, 1718. [S.]
Bulletin de Therapeutique, XXXI, 70, 1846.
Case of viper bite successfully treated by am-
monia. [S.]
Burnett (W. I.). Proc. Boston Nat. Hist. Society,
IV, 311, 323.
On the succession of the fangs in Crotalus,
describes his mode of procuring the venom by
chloroforming the snake and then pressing on
the glands. Also observation of the effect
produced by mingling the venom with blood.
Burton (Wiliiam). Letter concerning the Yiper
Catchers, and their Remedy for the Bite of a
Yiper. (Engl. Phil. Trans., No. 443, 1734.)
Reports experiments tried on a man to show
the utility of olive oil in viper bites. [S.]
Camerartjs (Elias). Dissertationes Epistolico
physico medicae. Tubingen, 1712, m. 2.
He seeks to prove that the viper is not equally
venomous in all localities, and cites facts to
support this opinion. [S.]
17
Cantor. London Zoological Trans., II, 304.
On Pelagic snakes. Action of their venom on
the tortoise, etc.
Cardose. Des effets d'une piqure faite par la dent
d'une vipere morte. Anuales de la Soc. de
Med. pratique de Montpellier, serie II, I,
179. [S.]
Carminati (B.). Saggi di osservazioni sui veneno
della vipera. Opusc. scelti, I, 58, 1778. [S.]
Catesby. Natural History of Carolina ; also cited
by Mortimer, Engl. Phil. Trans., 1738, p. 8.
Advises the actual cautery as a remedy in
snake-bites. Early natural history of the
Rattlesnake, etc.
Cauro. Exposition du moyen curatif des acci-
dents produits par la morsure de I'Arraignee
13 guttata on Theridion mal mignatte du
department de la Corse, suivi de quelques
reflexions sur le mode d'agir de son venin
et de celui de la vipfere, in 4to. Theses de
Paris, No. 128, 1833.
Proposes a secret remedy, camphor and opium,
which he describes as useful in spider bites,
and which, therefore, he presumes would be
valuable in those of the viper. [S.]
Caventou. Relation de quelques nouvelles ex-
periences faites par M. Desaulx, avec le
venin de la vipfere. Archives General de
Medecine, serie I, XIII, 518. [S.]
Cayal. Rage communiquee par la morsure d'un
chien, essais de traitement par I'arsenic,
I'hydrogene sulphure et par le venin de la
vipfere, mort 70 heures aprfes I'invasion des
premiers symptomes ; necropsie. Revue
Med., Ill, 387, 1831. [S.]
Cazentre (de Bordeaux). Notice sur les pro-
prietes therapeutiques de cedron. (Journ.
des Conn. Medico-Chirurg., 1850.)
States that the cedron is an infallible remedy
in serpent bites. [S.]
Celsus. De re medica; de medicamentis, lib. Y,
cap. XXYII, § 3, Lyon, 1856, in 8.
Prefers the suction of poisoned wounds to the
ligature, to cups, or to incisions. [S.]
Chabert (Jean-Louis). Du Huaco et de ses vertus
medicinales in 8, 1853.
Reports marvellous effects of mikania guaco in
serpent bites, even of the most terrible kind.
[S.]
Charas (Moise). Nouvelles experiences sur la
vipere ou I'un verra vne description exacte
de tovtes ses parties, la sovrce de son venin;
ses divers effets et les remedes exquis que les
artistes peuvent tirer de la vipere tant pour
la guerison de ses morsures que pour celle de
130
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
pinsieurs autres maladies. Paris, in 8, 1669.
[S.]
Chaeas (Moise). Svite des novvelles experiences
•svr la vipfere, in 8, 1112-90. [S.]
Chevalliee (Th.). Lettre sur I'eiEcacite de I'ar-
senic sur la morsure des serpents. Sedillot
Recueil period de la Soc. de Med. de Paris.
Ill, 409. [S.]
Christison (K). Treatise on Poisons. 1st Am.
from 4tli Edin. ed., Pliila. 1845, p. 484.
Clarke (R. W.). Attempt to cure Elephantiasis
and Leprosy by the Bite of a Rattlesnake.
Lancet, I, 1838 and 18.39, 443.
Singular case resulting fatally.
Col de Yillars (Elie). Cours de chirurgie dicte
aux ecoles de medecine de Paris, III. Traite
des plaies, eh. vi, p. Ill, )146.
Gives a short description of the symptoms
and treatment of viper bites, insists on the
necessity of internal treatment, owing to the
fact that a part of the venom always enters
the Wood. [S.]
CoLBATCH (J.). Cure of the Bite of a Viper.
London, 1698, 8vo. [S.]
Collenutius (Pandolph). Libellus de Vipera
Venet, 1506. [S.]
Cooper (Samuel). Surgical Dictionary, 1828, p.
214.
Describes the viper, his teeth and his bite,
and the mode of treatment. [S.]
CosTE. Sur les efifets de I'eau de Luce dans la
morsure de la vipfere. (Journ. de Med.,
XXXIII, 524, 1110.)
Reports a cure by the use of fomentations of
camphorated alcohol and theriac, followed by
scarifications, and the application of eau de
Luce on the wound. [S.]
Coster. Prophylactique du venin de la vipeve.
(Clin, des Hopit., Ill, No. 43, 1828.) [S.]
Cruger (Daniel). De morsu Viperarum. (Eph.
Germ. Acad. Nat. Cur., IV, obs. LXV, 143,
1686.)
Treatment of a case of viper bite according to
ancient methods, attributes great value to
the sperma ranaru7n. [S. ]
Davy (John). On Snake Stones. Asiatic Re-
searches, XIII, 311, in 4to.
Gives analyses of the stones whose application
to the wound is supposed in the east to effect
a cure of snake-bites.
Davy (John). On the poison of three of the
poisonous snakes of Ceylon. Davy's Phy-
siological and Anatomical Researches, I.
113, London, 1839; and also the author's
account of the interior of Ceylon, London,
1821.
A highly valuable and interesting detail of
experiments on venom poisoning.
Decerfs (J. p. B.). Essai sur la morsure des
serpents venimeux de la France. Thfeses de
Paris, No. 21, 1801.
Contains nothing novel except the opinion
that the viper bite is not mortal in man, even
when no treatment has been employed. [S.]
Delacoux. Amputation complete de la jambe
gauche produite par une ligature circulaire
permanente de ce membre. Acad, de Med.
Seances des 30 Juillet et 20 Aout, 1833.
Arch. Gen. de Med., 2e ser. II, 581 et 592.
[S.]
The ligature of the limb was used after a
viper bite ; no absorption of venom took place,
but the leg became gangrenous, and was finally
amputated. A case in which the remedy was
probably worse than the disease. [S.]
Delpech. Precis elementaire des maladies repu-
tees chirurgicales, II, 135 et 136, in 8vo.,
1815. [S.]
Thinks that the viper bite is rarely dan-
gerous. [S.]
Demathiis. Moyen de guerir I'hydrophobie. Anc.
Journ. de Med., LXI, 365, Mem. de la Soc.
de Med., p. 210, 1183.
This author treated a dog supposed to be mad
by allowing him to be bitten numerous times
by a viper. The dog died in four hours. The
author supposes that if the bites had been
fewer the dog would have been cured ; and
infers that the venom is a specific against
hydrophobic rage ! [S.]
Demetire. Journ. de la Soc. Gall, de Med. ho-
moeopathique, V, No. 6, 391, Oct. 1854.
Gives the case of a person bitten by a viper.
The symptoms seem to have been of an unu-
sual nature. The cure is attributed to the
fact that some of the venom from the bite in
the thumb having been absorbed in homceo-
patliio amount, the patient was thus pro-
tected from the effects of the remaining poi-
son. [S.]
Delille. Indication de Therapeutique directe des
morsures les plus veneneuses. Journ. de
Physiologic Exp. et Pathol., VII, 113.
Desbois (de Rochefort). Cours elementaire de
Matifere Medicale, II, 280, 1189.
Thinks that the effects of the venom of the
viper are due to the animal being enraged,
and that it acts on the nervous system, pro-
ducing a tendency to putrefaction. Advises
sudorifics, ammonia, and eau de Luce.
Desmoulins. Memoires sur le systeme nerveux et
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
131
Pappareil lacrymal des serpents a sonnettes,
de Trigonocephales et de qnelques autres
serpents. Journ. de Phys., IV, 264, 1824.
Treats of the venom gland of serpents, and
desires to prove, tliat it is only an adjunct of
tlie lachrymal apparatus. [S.]
De Veset (Louis) Xanttjs. Cases. — Experiments
■ with Bibron's Antidote. Am. Jom-n. of the
Med. Sci., No. LXX, p. 375, 1858.
Dezeimeris. Diet, de Medecine, XXX, 822.
Contains nothing new. Gives an incomplete
bibliography.
Drake. On the use of ammonia in cases of serpent
bites. West. Journ. Med. & Phys. Sci., I, 60.
DuBEBAT. Mort spontauee produite par la mor-
sure d'une seule vipere. Bull, de Ther., X,
198, 1836.
Case of a woman analogous to that reported
by Dr. Lugeal. [S.]
Dudley (Paul). Account of the Rattlesnake.
Phil. Trans, abrd., VII, 409-410, 1722.
On the rattles, on fascination, etc.
Duces (Alfred). Sur les Viperes Aspis et Pelias.
Mem. de la Soc. de Biologic, II, 115. Gaz.
Med., p. 270, 1850.
Corrects certain errors in regard to the French
vipers ; gives details of their habits, etc. [S.]
Duqes (Alfred). Note sur le redressement des
crochets dans les Thanatophides. Ann. des
Sc. Nat., 3e ser. XVII, 57, au pi., 1852.
Gives a new explanation of the mechanism
concerned in elevating the fangs. [S.]
Dumeril (Constant) et Bibron (E.). Erpeto-
logie General e, VI et VII, 1844. At VII,
part II, 1399, Natural History and Anatomy
of Serpents ; reports case of M. Dumeril,
bitten by a viper in 1851.
Dumeril (Auguste). Note historique sur la mena-
gerie des reptiles du museum. Mem. du
Museum, VII, 273.
Contains a large amount of information on
the habits of snakes, their food, change of
skin, etc.
Dumont. Vide Aug. Dumeril, p. 276.
On the use of cedron as an antidote and pro-
phylactic.
Duncan. On E. Indian Snake-Bites, strychnia as
a remedy in. Lancet, I, 507.
DusouRD. Effets remarquables de I'huile d'olive
employee a I'interieur et a I'esterieur dans
les cas de morsure de vipere. Bull, de The-
rapeut, XXVII, 489, 1849.
Approves of the internal use of olive oil in
snake-bites. [S.]
DuTERTRE (Jean Baptiste). Hist. Generate des
Antilles habitees par les Fran9ais, in 4to,
1667, 1671. [S.]
DuvERNOT (G. L.). Caracteres anatomiques pour
distinguer les serpents venimeus. Ann. des
Sci. Nat, XXVI, 113, 1830, XXX, 5,
1832.
Gives, amongst numerous other matters, de-
tails of the anatomy of the head of the viper ;
also accounts of experiments upon the poi-
soning power of venom long kept in alcohol.
Enaux et Chaussier. Methode de traiter les mor-
sures des animaus enrages et de la vipfere,
in 12mo., p. 101, 1785.
Advises cauterization. [S.]
Encyclopcedia. See article Serpents, in the British,
Edinburgh, and Rees' Encyclop.
Erndte (Christ. Henr.). Iter Anglicanum et
Batanum, 1714, in 8vo. [S.]
Ettmuller (M.). Dissertation de Morsu VipersB,
prffis. S. R. Sulzberger, Leipzig, 1665, 1685,
in 4to. [S.]
Fodere. Medecine Legale, IV, 11 et 12.
Cites many eases observed in the hospital at
Martinique, which died from the bites of the
vipers of the marshes of Bos.
Font ANA (Felix). Rieerche filosofiche sopra il
veleno della vipera, in 4to, II, Lucca, 1767.
Translated into French in 1781, 4to, IT, and
into English, by Skinner, in 1787, II,
8vo.
This latter is the edition referred to in the
foregoing essay.
FouoHER (d'Opsonville). Essai philosophique sur
les moenrs de divers animaux etrangers,
1783, p. 26, in 8vo. [S.]
Franzius (Wolfgang). Historia animalium in
qua plerumque animalium praecipuse pro-
prietates in gratiam studiosorum, theologise
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Three cases of viper bite. [S.]
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138
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INDEX.
A.
Abdomen, post-mortem aj^pearances of, 107.
Absorption of venom, 16.
Absorption of venom by the lungs, tt.
Abstinence of snakes in captivity, 3.
Acetic acid, effect of, on venom, 33.
. Action of venom on warm-blooded animals, 64.
Action of venom on tissues and fluids, T6.
Acute poisoning, rabbit, 67.
Acute poisoning by venom, state of blood in, 89.
Acute poisoning of frogs by venom, 55.
Acute poisoning of pigeons, 64.
Alcohol as a constitutional remedy in Rattlesnake
bite, 114.
Alcohol as a local treatment, 112.
Alcohol does not injure venom, 45.
Alcohol, effect of, on venom, 34.
Alcohol, warm, inhalation of, 116.
Albuminoid compounds in venom, 37.
Alexander on the ligature, 110, 111,
Alkalies, effect of, on venom, 34.
Ammonia as local treatment, 112.
Ammonia as an antidote, 113.
Amputation as local treatment, 109.
Analogy between Crotalus poisoning and other
maladies, 97.
Analysis of venom, 35.
Antidotes, 108, 113.
Antidote, Bibron's, 113.
Antidotes, classification of, 113.
Antidotes, local, 109.
Antidotes, observations upon, 112.
Arsenic as an antidote, 113.
Atchison (Dr.), case of Rattlesnake bite, 100.
B.
Barton (Dr. B. S.) on fascination, 5.
Bernard (Claude), criticism on Fontana, 61.
Bibliography — Appendix B, 127.
Bibron's antidote, history of, 113.
Bichloride of mercury, effect of, on venom, 34.
Bite of the Rattlesnake, physiological mechanism
of, 20.
Bite of Rattlesnake, failure of, from miscalculation
of the distance, 25.
Bite of Rattlesnake, failure of, from want of force
in the blow, 25.
Bite of Rattlesnake, failure of, from want of com-
plete erection of the fangs, 25.
Bite of Rattlesnake, failure of, owing to sudden
withdrawal of the fang, 25.
Bite of Rattlesnake, failure of, owing to escape of
venom between the fang and the extremity of
the duct, 22, 25.
Blindness, partial, of snake, during shedding of
skin, 4.
Blood, conclusions as to changes in, 94.
Blood, crystallization of, after venom poisoning, 92.
Blood, effect of venom on, 89.
Blood, globules of, observations on, in acute and
chronic poisoning, 91.
Blood and tissues, altered relations between, during
venom poisoning, 94.
Blood, state of, in man after death by Rattlesnake-
bite, 106.
Boiled venom active, 44.
Bonaparte (Prince Lucien), analysis of viper ve-
nom, 35.
Bone, ecto-pterygoid, 7.
Bone, lachrymal, 7.
Bone, maxillary, articulations of, 8.
Bone, palatal, 7.
Bone, superior maxillary, 6.
Bones of heads of seri>ents, arrangement of, to
permit of swallowing large animals, 6.
Brainard (Prof. David), action of venom on blood,
91.
Brainard (Prof. David), use of iodine as an anti-
dote, 46.
Brainard (Prof. David), iodine as a local antidote,
HI.
Brainard (Prof. David), on alcohol as aii antidote,
115, 116.
142
INDEX.
Braiuard (Prof. David), taste of venom, 31.
Brickell, acid reaction of Rattlesnake venom, 31.
Burnett ( W. J,) on blood-globules in venom poison-
ing, 92.
Burnett (W. J.) on the fang, 1 6.
Burnett (W. J.), ingestion of venom, T6.
C.
Calorification, action of venom on, 88.
Capacity of gland and ducts, relation of, to length
and weight of snake, 29.
Capillary circulation unaffected by venom, 86.
Capsule of venom gland, 11.
Caudisona, 119.
Caudisona adamantea, 121.
Caudisona atros, 121.
Caudisona cerastes, 124.
Caudisona confluenta, 122.
Caudisona durissa, 120.
Caudisona horrida, 122, 123-
Caudisona loeflingii, 120.
Caudisona Le Contei, 121.
Caudisona lepida, 124.
Caudisona lucifer, 121.
Caudisona lugubris, 122.
Caudisona molossus, 124.
Caudisona terrifica, 120.
Caudisona tigris, 122.
Caustics as local treatment, 111.
Cells of sphincter, 15.
Celsus, ingestion of venom (note), 16.
Cervical angular muscle, 9.
Chemical agents, influence of, on activity of venom,
45.
Chlorine water, action of, on venom, 34.
Chlorohydric acid, effect of, on venom, 33.
Christison (Prof.), dried Cobra venom, active, 59.
Chronic poisoning in pigeons, 65.
Chronic poisoning in the rabbit, 68.
Chronic poisoning by venom, state of blood in, 89.
Chronic venom poisoning, 94.
Ciliary movement unaltered by venom, 86.
Cloak of the fang, use of (note), 22,
Closure of the venom duct when not in use, 24.
Coagulation of venom, temperature of, 33.
Cobra can destroy Cobra, 60.
Color of venom, 29.
Coil, use of portion of, after striking, 22.
Coolidge (Dr.), case, 100.
Cope, E. D., genera and species, 119-126.
Costo-mandibular muscles, 9.
Crotaline, characters of, 36.
Crotaliue, preparation of, 36.
Crotalophorus, used by Prof. Brainard, 112.
Crotalus, 124.
Crotalus durissus (see Caudisona, Appendix A),
122.
Crotalus Edwardsii, 125.
Crotalus, effect of venom on, 60.
Crotalus, habits of, in captivity, 3.
Crotalus miliarias, 124.
Crotalus tergeminus, 125.
Cups, use of, in treatment, 110.
Curve of venom duct, use of, 24.
D.
Death, causation of, in acute and chronic poisoning,
95.
Death, cause of, in acute cases, 96.
Death, cause of, in chronic cases, 96.
Death, mode of, in human cases of Crotalus bite,
105.
De Blainville, venom gland analogous to parotid,
37.
Decomposition of venom, 32.
De Yesey — see Xantus, case, 100.
Digastricus muscle, 9.
Discharges, state of, in human cases of venom poi-
soning, 105.
Dogs, action of Crotalus venom on, 69.
Dogs, cases of poisoning of, by venom, 69 — 72.
Dogs, fatal cases of venom poisoning of, 72 — 75.
Dried venom, crystals from, 32.
Dried venom, poisoning by, 59.
Duct of venom gland, curve of, 15.
Duct, relations of, to sup. maxillary bone, 24.
Duct, terminal papilla of, 18.
Duration of cases of venom poisoning in man, 105.
Duvernoy, mechanism of the bite, 20.
E.
Ecchymoses in secondary or chronic poisoning, 94.
Echidnine, 36.
Ether, inhalation of, 116.
Excision as local treatment, 109.
Expression of snake when striking, 21.
External pterygoid muscle, action of, 8.
F.
Fallacies in the use of antidotes, 25.
Fangs, act of elevation of, 21.
Fang, depression of after biting, 22.
Fang, development of, 16.
Fang, divergence of, during act of biting, 23.
Fang, position and action of, in biting, 22.
Fang, size of, 16.
INDEX.
143
Fang, structure of, 15.
Fangs, periodical fall of, 17.
Fangs, relation of number of, used in biting, to
study of antidotes, 23.
Fangs reserve, succession of, 18.
Fangs, use of one or both, 23.
Fascination, 4.
Fascination, author's observations on, 5.
Fatal venom poisoning in dogs, 72 — 75.
Fermentation, not checked by venom, 49.
Fibrin, loss of its coagulating power in chronic
poisoning, 89.
Fibrin, rate of disappearance of in venom poison-
ing, 92.
Fontana, amount of venom ejected, 29.
Fontana, action of venom on blood, 91.
Fontana, action of venom on frogs, 54.
Fontana, action of viper venom on viper, 61
Fontana, color of viper venom, 30.
Fontana, mechanism of the bite, 20.
Fontana on reaction of viper venom, 31.
Fontana, taste of viper venom, 30.
Forcible feeding of snakes, 3.
Frogs, action of venom on, 55.
Frogs, chronic poisoning of, 57.
Frozen venom, active, 43.
G.
Gaspard on analogy between venom malady and
other diseases, 97.
Germination of seeds in venom, 52.
Gilman (B. J.), action of venom on plants, 47.
Guinea-pig, blood crystals from, after death by
venom, 92.
H.
Hammond (W. A.), case of Rattlesnake bite, 100.
Hammond (W. A.) on Bibron's antidote, 113,
114.
Harlan (R.), acid reaction of Rattlesnake venom,
31.
Harlan (R.), case of Rattlesnake bite, 100.
Harlan, ingestion of venom, 76.
Head, lesions of, in man, 106.
Heart, effect of venom on, 80.
Heart force lessened by venom, 83, 84.
Hemorrhage from bite in man, 101.
Hissing sound made by serpents, 20.
Holbrook (Prof) on use of intermittent ligature,
110.
Home (SirE.), case, 100.
Home (Sir E.), mechanism of the bite, 20.
Horner (W. E.), case," 100.
I.
Ingestion of venom, 76.
Inhalation in Rattlesnake bite, 116.
Intermittent ligature, 110.
Intoxication, how far useful in venom poisoning
116.
Iodine as local treatment, 111.
J.
James on reaction of viper venom, 31.
Jaundice of cases of snake-bites, 97.
Jeter, capacity of venom duct in Rattlesnake, 29.
Jeter, color of Rattlesnake venom, 30.
Jeter, ingestion of venom, 76.
Jeter on ligature, 110.
Jeter, taste of venom, 31.
Johnston, Prof Christopher (note), 22.
Johnston (Prof. Christopher) on the fang, 16.
Jussieu on reaction of viper venom, 31.
Lesions in dogs, 72 — 75.
Lesions in fatal cases of Rattlesnake bite in man,
106.
Lesions in pigeons, 67.
Lesions in rabbits, table of, 69.
Ligament check, of lachrymal and superior maxil-
lary joint, 7.
Ligature modifies local symptoms, 102.
Ligatures, 110.
Ligatures, intermittent, 110.
Local consequences in man, 10.3.
Local symptoms, 103.
Local symptoms absent when venom has been pre-
viously mixed with iodine or tannic acid, 46.
Local symptoms modified by remedies, 102.
Local treatment, applications to wounds, 112.
Loss of skin, description of, 4.
Loss of skin, relations of, to supply of water, 4.
M.
Magendie on resemblance of venom malady to
putrefactive poisoning, 97.
Man, Crotalus poisoning in, 98.
Man, Crotalus poisoning in, table of 16 cases, 100.
Mangili, dried venom, 59.
Mangili on absorption of venom, 76.
Manipulations (note), 27.
Mayrant (W.), two cases, 100.
Mead, action of venom on blood, 91.
144
INDEX.
Mead on reaction of viper venom, 31.
Mead, taste of venom of viper, 30.
Mind, state of, in venom poisoning in man, 105.
Miteliill (S. L.) on analogy between yellow fever
and venom poisoning, 97.
Moore (Dr.), case, 100.
Motions of intestines unaltered by venom poison-
ing, 86.
Mucous membrane of month of Rattlesnake, reac-
tion of, 31.
Muscles, effect of venom on, "78.
Muscles, irritability of under venom poisoning, 79.
Muscles, ultimate effect of venom on, 79.
Myology of venom apparatus, 8.
N.
Nerves, duration of irritability in, during effect of
venom on, 86.
Nerves, motor, action of venom on, 87.
Nerves, sensory, action of venom on, 87.
Nervous system, action of venom on, 86.
Nitric acid, effect of, on venom, 33.
O.
Odor of Rattlesnakes, 5.
Ogier (Dr.), use of ligature as local means, 110.
Olive oil as an antidote, 113.
Olive oil as local treatment, 112.
Orfila, criticism on Fontana, 59.
Owen (R.), description of fang, 15.
P.
Pain of bite, cause of, 101.
Paul (Prince, of Wurtemburg), on Bibrou's anti-
dote, 113, 114.
Phillips (A. B.), case, 100.
Pig bitten by Rattlesnake, death (note), 78.
Pigeons, action of venom on, 64.
Pigeons, acute poisoning of, 64.
Pigeons, chronic poisoning of, 65.
Pihorel (Dr.), case, 100.
Plants, action of venom on, 50.
Position of snake before striking, 20.
Post (Dr.), case, 100.
Pterygoideus externus muscle, function of, during
the act of biting, 22.
R.
Rabbit acutely poisoned, 67.
Pianby, mechanism of the bite, 20.
Rattlesnakes, genera and species of (Appendi.x A),
119—126.
Reaction of venom, 31.
Receptacle of venom, 12.
Recoveries, mode of, in man, 106.
Redi, ingestion of venom, 76.
Redi, mechanism of the bite, 20.
Reynoso, criticism on Brainard's experiments. 111.
Rigor mortis after death by venom, 79.
Rotiferfe in venom, 53.
Russell, color of venom of Cobra, 30.
Russell, experiments on power of Cobra to kill itself
and other serpents.
Russell on Tanjore pill, 113.
S.
Salisbury (J. H.), action of venom on plants, 48.
Saliva and venom compared, 42.
Scarifications as local treatment, 109.
Secondary poisoning in frogs, 57.
Sex of those bitten, 101.
Smith, mechanism of the bite, 20.
Solubility of venom, 33.
Soubeiran, anterior tendinous insertion of ant.
temporal muscle in vipers, 12.
Soubeiran, mechanism of the bite, 20.
Specific gravity of venom, 30.
Spheno-palatine muscle, action of, 8.
Spheno-palatine muscle, function of, during the act
of biting, 22.
Spheno-pterygoid muscle, action of, 8.
Sphincter of duct of venom gland, 14.
Stimulants, use of, in venom poisoning, 114.
Striking, mode of, action of muscles in, 21.
Suction, use of, in treatment, 110.
Sulphate of magnesia, effect of, on venom, 34.
Sulphate of soda, effect of, on venom, 34.
Sulphocyanide of potassium, absence of, in venom,
34.
Sulphuric acid, effect of, on venom, 33.
Symptoms, constitutional, in man, 104.
Symptoms, local, in man, 101.
Symptoms of venom poisoning in rabbits, table of,
T.
Tanjore pill, composition of, 113.
Tannic acid, effect of, on venom, 33.
Taste of venom, 30.
Temperatures, effect of various, on activity of
venom, 43.
Temporal muscles, 9.
INDEX.
145
Temporal muscles, action of, 10.
Temporal muscles, anterior, compression of venom
gland by, during the bite, 22.
Tenacity of life in Rattlesnakes (note), 24.
Thorax, post-mortem appearances of, 107.
Tissue of venom gland, 12.
■ Toxicology of venom of Crotalus, 47.
Treatment, local, division of, 109.
Trowbridge (J.), case, 100.
Twitching of muscles about wound, not described
in human cases, 104.
Tyson, mechanism of the bite, 20.
Venom, action of, on animal life, 52.
Venom, action of, on arterial pressure in animals
bitten by Rattlesnakes, 83.
Venom, action of, on blood-globules, 91.
Venom, action of, on capillaries, 86.
Venom, action of, on cilia, 86.
Venom, action of, on calorifacient function, 88.
Venom, action of, on frogs, 54.
Venom, action of, on intestinal motions, 86.
Venom, action of, on man, 98.
Venom, action of, on nerve trunks, 86.
Venom, action of, on plants, 47.
Venom, albuminous nature of, 34.
Venom altered so as to lose virulence, 49.
Venom, amount of, iu the ducts, 27.
Venom apparatus, anatomy of, 6.
Venom, chemistry of, 33.
Venom, comparison of, to saliva, 42.
Venom, comparative power of, to injure frogs and
Rattlesnakes, 63.
Venom, decomposition of, 32.
Venom, direct action of, on blood, table of, 90.
Venom does not convert starch into sugar, 38.
Venom, effect of, on blood, 89.
Venom, effect of, on fibrin of blood, 92.
Venom, effect of, on heart of frog, 80.
Venom, effect of, on muscles, 78, 79.
Venom, effect of, on pigeons, 64.
Venom, effect of, on rabbit's heart, 81.
Venom gland, 10.
Venom gland, anatomical relations of, 10.
Venom gland, are its tissue or infusions poisonous ?
39.
Venom gland, capsule of, 11.
Venom gland, form of, 10.
Venom gland, relations of, to fascia of external
pterygoid muscle, 12.
Venom gland, size and weight of, 10.
Venom gland, structure of, 12.
Venom gland, suspensory ligament of, 11.
Venom, ingestion of, 76.
Venom of Rattlesnake, effect of reagents on, 33.
Venom of Rattlesnake, proximate constituents of,
37.
Venom of Rattlesnake soluble in water, 33.
Venom of viper, analysis of, 35.
Venom, physical characters of, 30.
Venom, physical and chemical characters of, 27.
Venom, power with which it is ejected, 24.
Venom, reaction of, 31.
Venom, receptacle of, within the gland, 12.
Venom, sediment from, 32.
Venom, sp. gr. of, 30.
Venom, taste of, 30.
Venom uninjured by acids and alkalies, 46.
Vertebro-raaudibular muscles, 9.
Vibriones in venom, 53.
Virulency of snakes after shedding the skin, 4.
W.
Water as local treatment, 112.
Withmire (Dr.), case, 100.
Woodhouse (Dr.), case, 100.
Woodhouse (Dr.), swelling of lymphatic vessels
and glands, 103.
Wound, bleeding from, 78.
Wound made by fang, 77.
Wound, situation of, in man, 101.
Wound, swelling about, cause of, 78.
Wound, twitching about, 79.
Wound, veins near, 78.
Wyman (Prof. J.) (note), 22.
Wyman (Prof. J.), on relation of duct to fang, 19.
X.
Xantus (J.), on Bibron's antidote, 113.
Xantus (J.) — see De Vesey's case, 100.
Yellow fever, likeness of, to venom malady, 97.
19
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