The Washington times., 1920-07-25

rs the bite or the Ola mohse" S0
death? Or is there no evidence what
ever that anybody was ever killed by
the poison Of this rather mysterious lissrd
OF the Arizona deserts7
Science is perpleIed at the wicked repu'
tation of the Gila monster which Is not
confirmed by the studies Of scientific in
vestigators.
Recently a magazine OF wide circulation
published a statement from Mr.. DAVID
Ross, Of Montana, asserting that while
the monster probably was devoid Of fanss
and poison glands, his bite was. nevsrthe-
less, deadly because Of the infection sure
to follow. -.
o.. "The Gila has no proper digestive appa.
yrstus." explained Mr.. Ross, Wherefore
such food a. is taken into his system putre'
fies and this causes blood poisoning when
one IL 30 unfortunate az TO become . VIC
tim OF the lizard"
y But scientific research by Professor Leo
Loeb, of the Carnegie institution and
Professor Charles r. vorhies, Of the Uni.
.versity Of Arizona, makes II plain that the
ella monster 10 equipped with good oufht
of teeth, and that they are always sharp
and ample. The monster has . perfectly
good stomach. which functions in . nor
NAL way And besides this, the Ola mon
.ster has wsll-developed poison glands,
which secrete Z poison which is poweriui
enough to kill small animals.
-. In the study OF this strange creature OF
the American desert. II WAS discovered
that there are many things peculiar to the
ella monster which are not found In any
other poisonous lisard In ail poisonous
snakes the poison glands are located IN
the upper Jaw. The teeth. which ara
called poison fanss." which inject the
venom. are situated IN the front Of the
upper Jaw. In some snakes these fsnss are
erooved at the back to carry the venom.
but in the rattlesnakes and the most deadly
snakes the fangs are hollow tubes. which
convey the venom with deadly certainty TO
the extreme tip. A poison gland is situ-
ated some distance behind the fang on
each side Of the jaw. From the gland
duct runs to the base Of the hollow fang.
when the snake opens its jaws to bite
THE tanss are erected and a muscle presses
automatically on the poison gland. squees.
ing the venom into the fang A. the snake
bites the poison pours down the hollow fang
into the wound.
But the Gila monsters poison machinery
is built on a totally different plan. His
poison reservoirs are act In the lower Jaw
instead OF the upper. 40 IN the snakes.
The poison oozes out IN front Of the teeth
instead ~ coming from behind the tooth
and above, as IN the snake. The monsters
poison finds It's way up q groove In front
of the frat teeth. ana this groove does not
, extend to the extreme tip. 40 IN the
snakes teeth. He does not inject poison
as directly ~ the snake, but he bites ten.
aciously, like . bulldos, and some Of the
venom 10 sure TO And its way into the
wound. ...
Professor Leo Loeb, in collaboration with
q large corps OF other scientists has con
Quoted an exhaustive study into this Sub
feet They have found out Just how the
venom is injected. how the biting parts OF
the monster are constructed, how much
venom is needed to kill an animal. how
long venom retains it's virulence after being
extracted. how immunity can be produced
and many other interesting matters.
-.. The outcome Of the investigation ia that
the bite Of the Gila monster is . thing TO
be feared and avoided, although II Ia far
from being as deadly as the Indians and
some frontiersmen believe II is not a.
deadly as the bite OF 4 a rattlesnaks.
II was founu that mir cubic centimetres.
which is about nine t',mblefuls. Of Gila
monster venom w~,ld ~ill medium -sized
cat There II no reAsc- 10 believe that a
ella monsters ti'e .o.N kill a man.. but
a sufficient nu.-;-~- o, them would un.
doubtedly do so. he bite is fatal 10
email animals like rats and guinea piss
but not usually 70 cats and dogs
Strange to say, II was ascertained that
microbes in the Gis monsters venom