New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-06-30
CIrRING SNIkE RITES.
secured.

The fine appears TO have come FOR rccordinS
another important triumph OF therapeutics FRO
fessor Frazer OF Edinburgh, has devoted the
hest part Of a quarter Of n century to the s'uu!
~ snake polsoning and the discovery OF an anti
aote therefor His work Is not yet completed,
but the results OF it to date. as explained by MN
70 the ROYAL Society. certainly seem TO Indicate
success. lie believes indeed, that he has posi-
,,vc,v discovered genuine antdotc 10 all snake
nelson's. even 10 that of the cobra di capello. lie
calls II anivcnnc, and. like the antitoxln Tor 'he
euro Of diphthcrIa It's base is the serum Of blood
In fact the manner Of Its preparation closer!
resembles that OF antltoxin. and adds new CON
tirmation to the opinion Of Professor Lancaster
already quoted. that thcrapy will in future ma
In serum one Of Its most valuable agents.
Professor Frazer began by collecting snake
nelson's from all parts Of the world aud accuInu-
latIng hem in little bottles. carefully scaled
They are In a dried and powdered form, looklnG
something like brown sugar His first expcri-
ments we're 10 ascertain the degree OF tolera'ioh
animals had for the poison. which he founh 10
be very great beginning with half the mini
mum atn dose he administered dose after dose
NJ intervals ~ ten days or more elch Time III
crcasing the amount In time hc was able 10
give an animal IL ono dose enough poison 10 XIII
Ortv such animals which had not become ac-
customcd to 1t. Such a dose produced no BAD
effects but appeared TO act as tonlc actuaiiy
improving the subjects health. In one case he
administered no less than $40 times the MINI
mum leihal dose. without bad eject.
The next step was 10 extract some 81 lh'
blood serum OF animals thus treated. ana al
minister I, TO fresh animals. He mixed the
serum and pure poison together In equal quanti-
tics and injected il freely into the veins or an
animal not hitherto treated. No effect whatever
was producel Then he injected them ncpn'
ro,ely. m, serum first the poison second. Again
there was no pcrccpublc result; the serum hav-
ING evidently fortified the animal against the
action Of the poison. Then. for flnal test, ne
tool; n fresh animal and injected into It's veins
, dco,ny dose ~ snake poison. II soon began To
have effect Thcrcupon he injected some Of the
serum ~ an antidotc The symptoms OF poison
ing ceased entirely. and did not rcappear. This
no Justly declares. was proof positive that the
serum ~ an immunizcl animal Is an aniido'e
TO snake poison.
The c.pcrlmcnts described were performed
unon small animals. for despite his years OF col
lec,lng. he had not enough poison 10 operate
now assisting him. however. by getting him sup
niles Of poison from India. and he has begun
dosln, 4 horse As soon as the horse j. able 10
endure in one dosc a hundred times the ordinary
dcath-proiucing dose he will consider II I'M
munc lie will then extract ms much OF lis
serum as he can without cndangering Its HE,
nut II In Walls. and send II to India for admins
tratlon 10 human beings who have been bitten
by deadly scrpcnts. How much need there Is OF
such an antidoie may be reckoncd from the fact
that more than 10000 persons are killed there
every year by snake bites. Thousands more,
doubtless. are killed elsewhere In the world in
the same way so that the antlvenne promises
to have wide application. Taken In conjunction
with aniitoxin. moreover. 1t certainly Indicates
| field OF therapeutic research containing almost
| unreasonable possibilities OF good.