Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1868-04-17

Ways draw DaCk on itS HppIoacHs az 1des
one is taken, the leathern strap is
drawn tight around his neck by pulling the
cord, and is kept so near the head that he
cannot turn to bite the stick if the pres
sure should provoke his wrath. Thus Sc
cured, we lift him from his dozen of friends,
and. holding the moose firm so as to keep
| him well squeezed against the end of the
stick, we put him on a table. Next, re-
signing the staff and string to an assistant,
we open the snakes mouth, and with the
edge of little saucer, catch and elevate
the two fangs This is an old snake,
MIXED often before, and now de-
Ginning to bite unless compelled. Hold
| ing the saucer in one hand, we seize
| the snakes head over the venom
gland, and with thumb and fOrefnger
| press the venom forward through the duct.
Suddenly clear yellow fluid flows from
| the fangs This is the venom. The snake
| is four feet long, untouched for two weeks,
and has given us about twenty drops OF
poison. The assistant replaces him in his
cage, and we turn to look at the famous
poison which a living animal carries un-
harmed in his tissues for the deadly hurt
ing Of whom it may concern. There is
some of thisfuid in a phial on table be-
| fore me, and here some of it dried for
three years-a scaly, yellow, shining mat
ter like dried white of egg, and as good to
kill as ever it, was No smell, If fresh; no
taste; family acid, and chemically sub
stance which is so nearly like to this very
white of egg, that no chemical difference
may be made between them. Two things
so alike and so unlike! Indeed, it seems
hardly fair of Nature to set such problems.
We fall back upon an imagined difference
in the molecular composition OF the two
very consoling, no doubt; but, after all,
the thing is bewildering, explain it as we
may. We would like not to believe it..
We think of poisons as unlike what they
hurt. Let us take from dogs veins lit
tie blood, keep it few hours In the open
air, and throw it back into his circulation,
death. Ugly facts of disease where the
body gets up its own poisons for home use
make the wonder less to the doctor; but
even now to him it must seem wonderful,
this little sbit of white of egg to nourish,
and this, to no human test, differing in
composition, 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 injuring 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 it, 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 it is harmless, and there it means
death Let us follow this problem, as has
lately been done. Why does it not poison?
We give pigeon so drops of venom,
which otherwise used, would kill 100, and
that surely For three days we collect all
the excrete, and then, killing the bird, re-
move with care the contents of the mites
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
fluid thus obtained, we inject the tissues of
pigeons. No injury follows; our poison
has gone But where, and how? Let us
mix little Of it with gastric juice, and
keep it at body heat for an hour. 1t still
poisons; but we learnat length after many
essays, that very long digesting of it in
constantly added quantities of gastric
Juice does change it somewhat; and so, as
| VIC w IOb uuu IL LII tuC CAClClcGy VIC COluS
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
, in digestion as to make it harmless. In
these peculiarities 1t stands alone, if We
, except certain putrefying substances
which may usually be swallowed without
injury, but slowly kill if placed under the
| skin. s
, A large dog, poisoned with five drops
of venom, lives over the first few hours O
| feebleness, and then begins to show new
, set of symptoms. Some horrible malady
!, of the blood and tissues has come upor
him, so that the vital fluid leaks from the
kidneys or the bowels, and ooZes from thu
, gums. The fang-wounds bleed, and the
, prick of needle will drip blood for hours
Thus exhausted, he dies, or slowly recov
. CTS. Meanwhile, the wound made by tn,
|, 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 wher
: the needle entered. We cut into it. Their
is no Inflammation at first; the who'll
mass is fluid blood, which by and by soak
every tissue in the neighborhood, and ever
! stains the bones themselves. II, for tn
f sake of contrast, we wound any healthy
r part with q common needle, withou
8 venom, we open thus few small blood
f vessels, which presently cease to bleed, be
t cause the escaped blood quickly clots, ant
so corks their own mouths by rarel,
failing providence an-thoughtful Nature
/. The conclusion seems easy, that venom
|, destroys the power of the blood to clot
I and SO deprives the animal of this exquis
q lite protection against hemorrhage. Ii tn
E creature live long and the dose be heavy
E the collected blood putrefies, abscesse
8 form, and more or less of the tissue be
/, comes gangrenous. Nor is this evil onl
t local. The venom absorbed from tn
f wound enters the circulation, and soon tn
d whole mass of the blood has lost power t
i. clot when drawn. We are not willing t
d assert that this is putrefactive change
Y but it is certainly in that direction, be
e cause this blood, if drawn, will now deca
r faster than other blood. By and by it b.
q gins to leak through various tissues, an
e we find blood escaped out of the vessel
:, and into the brain, lungs, or intestine
n walls, giving in each case specific symI
= toms, according to the part injured an
l. the function disturbed. ssss
is A further step has of late been game
d towards comprehending this intricat
], problem. A young rabbit was made sens
,e less and motionless with chloroforn
r. Then its abdomen was opened, and piet