The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1897-08-27
A STRANGE DISCOVERY.
The Bile of a Serpent an Antidots
for It's Bite.

Another every effective agent for
overcoming the venom of serpents has
| been discovered by Professor Thomas
*. Fraser Of the University of Edin-
burgh- 1t is not whisky, wherewith
Americans antagoniZe the poison of
| rattleSnakeS; nor is it M. Calmettes
anutox1c serum, obtained from the
blood of animals which have been rem
dered immune by successive inocula-
lions with small quantities of the VEN
ON. The new antidote is nothing more
| nor less than the serpent's own bile
In reporting series of elaborate ex-
perments conducted by himself, Pro-
eSSor Fraser recently said:
The bile from the gall bladder of
the African cobra, puff adder, rattle
snake and grass make was used, and
each bile was tested against the ven
ON of the African and the Indian CO.
bra For the most part the experiments
were made by mixing various quaint
ties of each bile with a little venom,
and then injecting this mixture under
the skin of the animal. The object of
the experiments was not only to de-
termine if the bile can render venom
inocuous, but also, if it have this
of the bile capable of doing it."
Having recounted the various doses
which he employed, and their effects.
ne thus summarizes the result: cit
was thus shown that the bile of ven
omous serpents is able, when mixed
with the venom of the serpents, to pre-
vent lethal doses of the latter from
producing death, and that the bile is,
indeed, so powerful an agent in doing
this that a quantity actually smaller
than the quantity of venom may be
sufficient for the purpose. 1t need
| scarcely be added that the doses of
bile thus shown to be sufficient rep
| resent only minute portions of the bile
stored in the gall bladder of a SER
pent, and that a 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 expert
ments. 1t was even less powerful than
the bile of inocuous snakes, and about
one-seventh as strong Gin it's antitoxic
infiuence) as the bite of the cobra or
asp. But if enough of it were used
it would overcome a fatal dose of the
poison.
DR.. Fraser found that he could iso-
late the particular element in a SER
pent's bite which has this surprising
property, so that the antidote can be
prepared for the market in very COM
pact form. And the process of man
ufacture is probably quite as simple
as, and perhaps more rapid than that
of NJ Calmette.
Precisely how he obtained his clew
the Edinburg savant does not say. But
he incidentally remarks that some of
the native snake doctors in Africa have
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 alb
sorbed into the blood It is probable
therefore that this wonderful provision
of nature, which compels a serpent
to Secrete in one part of it's system a
cure for the poison that it secretes in
another, has long been known in some
of these countries where the Informal
ton is most likely to prove beneficial
to mankind.-New York Tribune.