30 THE INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE.
{Jan. 1904.
Cost oF ANTI-MALABIAL CAMPAIGN. Klang Town.—The total estimated cost of the drainage and earthworks was $20,000, or about £1,800. Port Swettenkham.—The cost of the various works has been approximately as follows :—
Filling swamps ws on eee $15,730 Drainage tee vee -» 4, 80€ Bunding, including tidal gates -- 6,400 Felling jungle oe eee --» 1,620 Miscellaneous ves ves +. ~—«,450
Total ... $30,000
Or about, £2,700.
It may be noted that there has been no special expen- diture on expert advice, all necessary supervision having been carried out by the regular Government staff. Thus a]l the money voted for the purpose has been expended on the work itself, the whole of which is of a permanent nature.
I cannot conclude this brief report without alluding to the prompt and businesslike way in which this emer- gency wae dealt with by the Government of the Feder- ated Malay States. The proposals made by the engineer- ing and medical staff were acted on without question, and the expenditure of a comparatively large sum of money was sanctioned without delay. The confidence shown by Government in ita professional advisers has, I conai- der, been fully justified
Kuava Luror,
15th August, 1903, E. A. O. TRAVERS.
COLUBRINE & VIPERINE SNAKE VENOMS.
By Capt. LEONARD ROGERS, M.D., M.R.C.P., F.R.C.S., I.M.S.
- On the Physiological Action and Antidotes of Colubrine and Viperine Snake Venoms.” By Leonard Rogers, M.D., B.8., M.B.C.P., F.R.0.8 , Indian Medical Service. Communicated by Dr. A. D. WaAL.uer, F.R.8. Received and read November 19, 1903.
(From the Physiological Laboratory of the London University.)*
(Abstract.)
Paper read before the Royal Society, London.
Part I.—COLUBRINE VENOMS.
The Indian Colubrine snakes other than the Cobra have been little investigated since the classical work of Fayrer, Lauder Brunton and Wall, Their phy- siological actions are dealt with in this paper.
I. The Naia Bungarus or Hamadriad is the largest poisonous snake. The symptoms produced by it are identical with those of Cobra venom, and its toxicity is very similar in degree to it.
Its hemolytic action is very slight compared to that of the Cobra, its power in this respect being only about one-hundredth that of the latter.
Blood-pressure and respiratory curves of this and the other venoms dealt with in this paper have been taken in the case of cats and rabbits by means of a Gad’s manometer connected with a canula in the carotid artery, and a Sandstrém recorder connected with a tracheal canula, with the following results :—
In Experiment I a dose of 5 milligrammes per kilogramme produced paralysis of respiration in 1} minutes followed by circulatory failure of a secondary
- A grant-in-aid of this research was received from the
Royal Society.
nature in 2 minutes. In Experiment II 1 milli- gramme per kilogramme produced a temporary stimulation of respiration followed by complete failure in 10 minutes. In Experiment III a very similar result was obtained, while, in addition, it was found that by means of artificial respiration the circulation could be kept going long after total cessation of breathing. In each case the motor end-plates of the diaphragm were paralysed at the end of the experiment, but by means of stimulating the nerve at intervals during the experiment it was found that this paralysis did not take place until after that of the respiratory centre.
The action of Hamadriad venom then, in all respects, resembles that of the Cobra, with the exception that it has very little hemolytic action.
II. The Bunjarus fasctatus or Banded Krait, although a large snake, has always been considered the least deadly of its class in India. The symptoms which it produces are very similar to those of the rest of the class, only in addition it may cause a chronic affection. This difference I find is due to its containing some of the viperine element in ad- dition to the Colubrine one, and it may thus produce intravascular clotting in large doses. The blood- pressure and respiratory tracings show the typical respiratory paralysis of Colubrine venoms, but in addition it causes a marked primary fall of blood- pressure, while artificial respiration fails to keep the circulation going, as with the other Colubrine venoms. Heating to 90° C. for a short time greatly lessens this effect on blood-pressure and renders artificial respiration much more efficacious, owing to the viperine element being more readily destroyed by heat than is the Colubrine one." The venom also produces motor end-pkate paralysis like the other Colubrines.
III. The Bunjarus coeruleus or Krait isa small but deadly snake. The symptoms produced by it are identical with those of Cobra venom, and a blood pressure and respiratory tracing shows that it paralyses the central respiratory centre in the same way as the latter. Its action on the phrenic end- plates is, however, somewhat less marked than that of the other Colubrines.
We see, then, that each of these venoms causes death by paralysing the respiratory centre just like Cobra and sea-snake venoms, but in addition the venom of the Banded Krait has a viperine element which produces a primary fall of blood pressure, and sometimes intra-vascular clotting, thus resembling the Australian Colubrine snake, the Pseudechis por- phyacus,
Calmette’s antivenin has an undoubted specific action against Cobra venom. It, therefore, becomes a matter of practical importance to ascertain if it is also effective against the other Colubrine and sea snakes, whose lethal action is identical with that of the Cobra, A series of experiments have been carried out by mixing about ten times a fatal dose of venom with different quantities of the serum for half an hour before injection and noting the results, It was first tested against the common variety of of the Cobra, which it neutralised more readily than it did the venom of a less common kind. It acted next best against the Hamadriad or King Cobra, and only a little less so in proportion to its toxicity, against the Enhydrina Bengalensis, a sea-snake.
