Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1897-11-25
A STRANGE DISCOVERY.
TIE Bile of Serpent IN Antidote for
Its Bite.

TIE Bile of II Serpent an AntidOte for
Its Bite.
Another very effective agent for
overcoming the venom of serpents has
been discovered by Prof. Thomas r.
Fraser, of the University of Edinburgh.
1t is rot whisky wherewith Americans
antagonize the poison of rattlesnakes;
nor is it NJ. Calmette's antitoXic serum,
obtained from the blood of animals
which have been rendered immune by
successive NEGOTIATIONS with small
quantities of the venom. The new anti
dote is nothing more Or less than the
serpent's own bile. In reporting a
series of elaborate experiments con-
Quoted by himself Prof Fraser recently
said:
The bile from the gall bladder of the
African cobra, puff adder, rattlesnake
and grass snake was used, and each bile
was tested against the venom of the At
rican and Indian cobra. For the most
part the experiments were made by
mixing various quantities of each bile
with a little more than the minimum
fatal dose of the venom, ard then in
jecting this mixture under the skin of
the animal. The object of the expert
ments was not only to determine if the
bile can render venom innocuous, but
also, if it have this power, what is the
smallest quantity of bile capable of do
ing it?"
Having recounted the various doses
which he employed, and their effects,
he thus summarizes the result: 1T
was thus shown that the bile of veno-
nous serpents is able, when mixed with
the venom of serpents, to prevent lethal
doses of the latter from producing
death, and that the bile is, indeed, so
powerful an agent in doing this that
quantity actually smaller than the guam
tity of venom may be sufficient for the
purpose. 1t need scarcely be added that
the doses of bile thus shown to be suf
ficient represent only minute portions
of the bile stored in the gall bladder of
a serpent, and that serpent therefore
has at its disposal enough bile to pre-
vent injury from venom introduced into
the stomach in quantities many times
greater than the minimum lethal."
The bile Of harmless serpents was
also tested and found to be effective.
though in a less degree. The same Sc
erection from an animal like the OK was
made the subject of other experiments.
1t was even less powerful than the bile
of innocuous snakes, and about one
seventh as strong in its antitoXic in
huence as the bite of the cobra or asp.
But if enough of it were used it would
overcome u fatal dose Of the poison.
DR.. Fraser found that he could isolate
the particular element in q serpent's
bite which has this surprising property,
so that the antidote can be prepared for
the market in very compact form. And
the process of manufacture is probably
quite as simple as, and perhaps more
rapid, than that of NJ Calmette.
Precisely how he obtained his clew
the Edinburgh savant does not say. But
he incidentally remarks that some of
the native snake doctors in Africa have
q remedy, compounded of several sub
stances, of which one is snake bile, and
they are accustomed to administer it
not only by introducing it into the pa
tents stomach (where it is probably
without effect, but also by rubbing it
into the wound, where it would be abb
sorbed into the blood. 1t is probable,
therefore, that this wonderful provision
of nature, which compels serpent to
secrete in one part of its system cure
for the poison that it secretes in an
other, has long been known in some of
those countries where the information
is most likely to prove beneficial to
mankind.-St. Louis Globe-Democrat.