Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1897-09-22
NUMBER 43.
A SYl.ANub uloUUJthY.
Tho Bile Of Serpent an Antidots
for Its Cite.

| 'Os lues
Another very effective agent for
overcoming the venom of serpents has
been discovered by Prof. Thomas r.
Fraser, of the University of Edin-
burgh' 1t is not whisky wherewith
Americans Ontagonize the poison of
rattlesnakcs; nor is il Nj. Calmette's
0ntltoXic serum, obtained from the
blood of animals which have been rem
dered immune by successive inocula-
tons with small quantities Of the
venom. The new antidote is nothing
more or less than the serpent's own
bile. In reporting a series OF elab-
crate experiments conducted by him.
self, Prof. Fraser recently said:
THE bile from the gall bladder of
the African cobra, puff adder, rattle
snake and grass snake was used, and
each bile was tested against the venom
of the African or Indian cobra. For
tho most part the experiments were
made 10y mixing various quantities
of each bile with little more than the
minimum fatal dose of the venom.
and then injecting this mixture un-
der the skin of the animal. The OBJ
Ject OF the experiments was not only
to determine if the bile can render
venom innocuous, but also, if it have
this power, what is the smallest GUAM
tity of bile capable Of doing it?"
Having recounted the various doses
which he employed, and their effects,
he thus summarizes the result: cit
was thus shown hat the bile of VEN
omous serpents is able, when mixed
with the. venom of serpents, to pre-
vent lethal doses of the latter from
producing death. and that the bile Ia,
indeed, so powerful mn agent In doing
this that n quantity actually smaller
than the quantity of venom may be
sufficient for the purpose. 1t need
scarcely bo added that the doses of
bile thus shown to be sufficient rep
resents only minute portions OF the
bile stored in the gall bladder of q
serpent, and that serpent, therefore,
has Mt its disposal enough bile to pre-.
vent injury from venom introduced
into the stomach in quantities many
times greater than tho minimum
lethal."
The bile of harmless serpents was
also tested and found to be effective.
though in less degree. The same
secretion from an animal like the OK
was made the subject OF other ex-
periments. 1t was even less powerful
than the bile of the innocuous snakes,
and about one-seventh as strong Tin
its antitoxic influence as the bile Of
the cobra or asp. But If enough Of It
were used it would overcome fatal
dose OF the poison.
DR.. Fraser found that he could
isolate the particular element In a
serpents bite which has this surpris-
ing property, so that the antidote can
be prepared for the market in very
compact form. And the process Of
manufacture is probably quito as
simple as, and perhaps more rapid,
than that of M. 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 Africr.
havearemedy, compounded ofHseverri
substances, of which one is ST AXE bilo,.
and they are accustomed b. ad ninis,
ter it not only by introdr cir IL into
the patients stomach (wliefe Il IA
probably without effeC0, ,ut by NIB
bling tinto the wound where il would
be absorbed into the blood. II Il.
probable, therefore that this wonder
full provision of nature, which com
pels a serpent 70 socrete In one part
OF its system a~,uro for the poison that
1t secretes in another, has lbna been
known in Some Of those countries
where the information Ii most likely
70 prove Beneficial TO Rankind.-St,