THEIR NATURE AND EFFECTS.
tongue, larynx and pharynx, as evinced by inability to retain the saliva within the mouth, by incapacity to move the tongue, or to speak, or to swallow, are very prominent signs of cobra-poisoning both in men and animals. It is singular that the striking resemblance of these symptoms to the disease known as glosso-laryngeal paralysis has not been previously noticed. Now, the preponderance of medical opinion attributes this disease to lesion of certain tracts of the medulla. It cannot be thought, therefore, anything but reasonable to connect both diseases with paralysis of those centres in the medulla oblongata which are so closely associated togetlier, and which are in connexion with the roots of the vagus, the spinal accessory, and the hypo-glossal nerves and the lower nucleus of the facial. But the resemblance does not end here. In both diseases the respiration becomes feebler and feebler, and the victim, at last, dies suffocated. In other words, the lesion in the one case, and the paralysing poison in the other, have invaded the respiratory nucleus so near to the centres they have already destroyed, and have thus rendered the respiratory act difficult, and, at last, impossible. Lastly, after all the lower centres have been completely paralysed, the one by which connection is made with the second, fifth, and seventh nerves still acts, and the eye is closed when touched, and even when approached, after the animal is dependent on artificial respiration for life. For these reasons it seems
