Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1868-04-16

we tnlnK OF pOlsODs as unlike what they
hurt Let US take from dogs veins lii.
tie blood, keep it q few hours in the open
air, and throw it back into his circulation,
and very surely you have, given him his
death. Ugly facts of disease where the
body gets upits own poisons for home use
make the wonder less To the doctor; but
even now to him 1t must seem wonderful,
tins little bit of white of egg to nourish,
and this, to no human test, differing In
com position, good for destroying alone.
We have said that the serpent often
swallows his own poison. AS for him, if
it will not hurt being put under his skin,
the wonder of its not iDjuring him when
swallowed is little enough. 1t only excites
amazement when we learn that it poisons
no creature if ingested. We have fed
pigeons with ii, day after day, in doses
each enough to have killed forty had it
been put within the tissues Placed in the
stomach, it lies within some thousandths
of an inch of the blood vessels, only a
thinest mucous membrane between; and
here 1t Is harmless, and there il means
death Let US follow this problem, as has
lately been done Why does it not poison ?
We give pigeon 90 drops of venom,
which otherwise used, would kill 100, and
that surely. For three days we collect all
the excret@, and then, killing the bird, re-
move with care the contents of the intes-
final Canal. - Knowing well that fluids
dissolve the venom, we separate by this
means whatever poison may be present
from all the rest of the substances passed
by or taken from the bird Then. with the
hdid thus obtained, We inject the tissues oil
pigeons. No injury follows; our poison
has gone. But where, and how? Let us
mix little of il with gastric Juice, and
keep it at body heat for an hour. 1t still
poisons; but we learn at length after many
essays, that very long digesting of it in
constantly added quantities of gastric
juice does change it somewhat; and so. as
We do not find it in the excreta. we come
to think that, being what we call An
| albuminoid, 1t is very likely to be altered
| during digestion and so rendered innocent
enough, it may be. Here, at last, we must
rest, having learned first that venom will
not pass through the mucous surfaces /;
and, second, that it undergoes such change
Ia digestion as to make it harmless. In
these peculiarlties it stands alone, if we
except certain putrefying substances
which may usually be swallowed without
injury, but slowly kill if placed under the
skin.
A large dog, poisoned with five drops
OF venom, lives over the first few hours of
feebleness, and then begins to show new
set of symptoms Some horrible malady
of the blood and tissues has come upon
him, so that the vital fluid leaks from the
kidneys or the bowels, and oozes from the
gums. The fang-wounds bleed, and the
prick of needle will drip blood for hours.
Thus exhausted, he dies, or slowly recoy-
ers Meanwhile, the wound made by the
injecting needle or the fang has under
gone series Of changes, which, rightly
studied, gave the first clue to the true ex-
PLANTATION OF how this hideous agent acts
A large and growing tumor marks where
the needle entered. We cut into it. There
IS no Inflammation at first; the whole
mass is fluid blood, which by and by soaks
every tissue In the neighborhood, and even
stains the bones themselves. If, for the
sake OF contrast, We wound any healthy
part with common needle, without
venom, we open thus few small blood.
vessels, which presently cease to bleed, be.
cause the escaped blood quickly clots, and
so corks their own mouths by rarely
falling prov dence ofall thoughtful Nature.
Inc conclusion seems easy, that venom
destroys the power Of the blood to clot-
lite protection against hemorrhage. Ii the
creature live long and the dose be heavy.
the collected blood putrefies, abscesses
form, and more or less of the tissue be.
comes gangrenous. Nor is this evil only
local. The venom absorbed from the
wound enters the circulation, and soon the
whole mass of the blood has lost power 10
clot when drawn. We are not willing 10
assert that this is q putrefactiye change
but 1t is certainly in that direction. be.
cause this blood, If drawn, will now decay
faster than other blood. By and by It be-
gins to leak through various tissues. and
We ind blood escaped out OF the vessels
and into TIE brain, llnga or intestinal
ysiis, giving in each case specific symp
toms, according to the part injured and
the function disturbed. 100
A further step has of late been gained
towards comprehending this intricate
problem. a young rabbit was made sense
less and mouoniess with chloroform.
linen It's abdomen was opened, and a piece
OF the delicate membrane which holds the
intestines was laid under a microscope.
ana kept moist by an assiEtapt. The oh
servers eye lAoEel 0owa upon a wild
! racing OF myriad blood disks through the
tiny vessels OF the transparent mem brane.
presently the assistant puts drop of
venom upon the tissue We are studyipg.
For thirty seconds, there i no CHANGE
Then suddenly 6 email vessel, giving wsy,
10 hidden by rush Of blood disks. A lit
tie way on another vessel breaks. than
third, and fourth, until within five min.
utes The held OF view Is obscured by blood
which at last causes a rupture in the deli
cafe membrane. between whose double
folds the vessels run to and fro from the in.
testine. We are now as near to The cen.
ter OF the maze as we aSe likely to come
nearer Than We have come with most moi.
! sons. We haze learned that this bland
tssteless venom has the subtle power TO
forbid the blood to clot and in some
strange way to pass through the .issaes
and To soften and destroy the little blood.
yesselS SO that they hreak under the con-
tinuiDg force Of the heart pump.
The sauna phenomena may be seen on
the surface Of an open wound treated with
venom; and that which happens in the
wound, and in the experiment lust de-
scrioed, goes on 81 last everywhere In the
Cody; SO that in dozens OF places vessels
break down. Looked at with an eve to
sy mptoms, We see in the first effects of
venom dangerous depression of all func
tons, exactly like what follows an over.
dose OF tartar emetic. The obvious treat
ment Is to stimulate the man, and this is
the meapins GA whisky for snake bite-a
remedy, by The way, which enormously in
creased the number of snake bites in the
army on our frontier. The intensity of
the depression is shown best by tho amount
OF whisky WHICH may than be taken with
IMMUNITY: In One case, well-known
physician OF Tamsqua, Pennsylvania, gave
TO Child aged two years pint of whisky
In two hours. A little girl of nine years
o.d III south Carolina received thus q pin t
and halt Of whisky In four hours.
Neither patient wss made drunk by these
doses and both recovered.
us hkeiy that too much whisky is often
gwen IN such cases, since all that is desira-
Die is 10 Keep the person gently stimulated.