Page:AJWall Indian Snake Poisons.djvu/16

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INDIAN SNAKE POISONS,
THEIR NATURE AND EFFECTS.




CHAPTER I.

THE PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF THE POISON OF THE COBRA (NAJA TRIPUDIANS).

The inquiry that naturally presents itself first in considering the subject of snake-poisoning is:—How does snake-poison kill? and what are the changes it effects in the animal system? And as a consequence of this:—Is there only one poison common to all snakes, or are there several? Upon the answers to these questions depend both the certain recognition of snake-poisoning when it comes under observation, and the indications that must serve as guides to us in the treatment of it.

To answer these questions, it will be necessary to examine, with great care, the symptoms produced by

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