INDIAN SNAKE POISONS,
to act very freely, but sometimes there is a diminution of urine.
There is but little evidence of the effect of cobra-poisoning on the blood. It is, of course, by the blood acting as carrier that the poison is able to reach the system, and the blood of a cobra-poisoned animal is poisonous, also, to another animal. It is clear, therefore, that the poison exists in the blood. That it causes changes in it, there is also evidence. In a man poisoned by a cobra it is very generally, indeed, found that his blood has become incoagulable, though in dogs it is exceptional for this to be the case. Very occasionally, too, the mucous discharges from the body are stained with blood, as if the relation existing between the blood and the tissues had been in some way altered. If, however, the experiments given at the commencement are referred to, it will be seen that in not one was there noted a discharge of blood from a mucous orifice, and they were selected on account of being typical. Still, there are cases on record which prove that discharges of blood, though rare, occasionally occur, perhaps through individual peculiarities.
The interval that occurs between the injection of the poison and the development of the symptoms is, to a certain extent, evidence of blood-change, as the pause can be proved to depend on two factors. The one factor is the time required for the absorption of the poison, for it is lessened by the poison being injected simultaneously
