crouching in one corner of the box, with its eyes fixed on the snake, who lay coiled up at some distance; they were allowed to remain a few minutes in this situation. I then raised one end of the box, which caused the snake to slide along the smooth surface, till it came in contact with the rat, which it immediately bit. The rat died in a minute after the bite. I removed it immediately from the box by means of a long pair of forceps. The wounds made by the fangs were marked by two specks of blood immediately below the shoulder blade. On dividing the skin with a scalpel, the cellular membrane under it was found entirely destroyed: the muscles were detached from the ribs, and from a small portion of the scapula. The parts immediately surrounding the bite were exceedingly inflamed; as far as I could trust to memory, the appearances very much resembled those produced on the muscles of a dog's thigh, by the application of white arsenic, in consequence of which, death ensued in about sixteen hours.

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Fifteen hours after the death of the first, a second rat was bitten by the same snake. This rat was much irritated, and bit the snake in the neck, so viclently, that the latter died in about ten minutes. The rat continued very lively for about six hours, and then died. On examination after death, the bite was found to have been inflicted on the left side of the navel, and the abdominal muscles at that part were in the same state as in the other sat, but in a less degree.

It appears from the facts, which have been stated, that the effects of the bite of a snake vary according to the intensity of the poison.

When the poison is very active, the local irritation is so sudden and so violent, and its effects on the general system are so great, that death soon takes place. When the b dy is afterwards inspected, the only alteration of structure met with, is in the parts close to the bite, where the cellular membrane is completely destroyed, and the neighbouring muscles very considerably inAlanied.'

When the poison is less intense, the shock to the general system does not prove fatal. It brings on a slight degree of delirium, and the pain in the part bitten is very severe in about half an hour swelling takes place from the effusion of serum in the cellular membrane, which continues to increase with greater or less rapidity for about twelve hours, extending during that period into the neighbourhood of the bite; the blood ceases to flow in the smaller vessels of the swoln parts; the skin over them becomes quite cold, the action of the heart is so weak, that the pulse is scarcely perceptible, and the stomach is so irritable, that nothing is retained on it. In about 60 hours these symptoms go off, inflammation and suppura

tion take place in the injured parts, and when the abscess formed is very great, it proves fatal. When the bite has been in the finger, that part has immediately mortified. When death has taken place under such circumstances, the absorbent vessels and their glands have undergone no change similar to the effect of morbid poisons, nor has any part lost its natural appearance, except those immediately connected with the abscess.

In those patients who recover with difficulty from the bite, the symptoms produced by it go off more readily, and more.completely, than those produced by a morbid poison, which has been received into the system.

The violent effects which the poison produces on the part bitten, and on the general system, and the shortness of their duration, where they do not terminate fatally, has frequently induced the belief, that the recovery depended on the medicines employed: and in the East Indies, eau de luce is considered as a specific for the cure of the bite of the cobra di capello.

There does not appear to be any foundation for such an opinion; for when the poison is so intense, as to give a sufficient shock to the constitution, death immediately takes place, and where the poison produces a local injury of sufficient extent, the patient also dies, while all slighter cases recover.

The effect of the poison on the constitution is so immediate, and the irritability of the stomach is so great, that there is no opportunity of exhibiting medicines till it has fairly taken place, and then there is little chance of beneficial effects being produced.

The only rational local treatment to prevent the secondary mischief, is making ligatures above the tumefied part, to compress the cellular membrane, and set bounds to the swelling, which only spreads in the loose parts under the skin; and scarrifying freely the parts already swoln, that the effused serum may escape, and the matter be discharged, as soon as it is formed.Ligatures are employed in America, but with a different view, namely, to prevent the poison being absorbed into the sys

tem.

To

To the Editors of the Medical and Physical Journal,

MR. HUME'S Cursory Remarks on Arsenical Preparations.

GENTLEMEN,

THE internal application of arsenic to the human frame is

of such moment in therapeutics, this drug having nothing in its character between the two extremes of doing a great deal of good, or much mischief, that any error respecting the prepara tions of an agent so formidable cannot be too soon or too generally exposed, particularly if such error be sanctioned by names of professional, and, in all other respects, most meritorious authors.

There are not more than two formulæ admitted into general practice in the British empire, viz. Fowler's solution, and Macquer's arsenical salt; the first of these may be considered as the arsenite, and the other salt as the arseniate of potash, this alkali being the basis in both cases. In regard to another preparation, the simple solution of the white oxide in distilled water, first prescribed by M. Le Febure, it is, I believe, seldom employed in this country; but, considered as an officinal article, there is one objection against it, that it cannot be preserved long, being disposed to turn fetid, and of course to become impaired in its efficacy.

By Dr. Fowler's prescription, his solution ought to contain four grains of the oxide in each fluid ounce of the solu tion, or, which is equivalent, sixty-four grains in the English pint. The compound spirit of lavender may be useful to prevent mistakes, lest this mixture should pass for plain water, but as cheaper substances might be contrived, I apprehend the author's aim was to preserve this remedy from spoiling. This medicine is precisely the same form admitted by the London College into their pharmacopoeia, but why it has been preferred to the arseniate I am not yet informed; it may be superior in its powers, or it may be equal to the arseniate of the Dublin College.

The mistake to which I now particularly allude is, that of confounding the two terms, pound and pint; for, unfortunately, the word libra has long been employed indiscriminate

* As i is a radical letter in the primitive word, perhaps this should be written arsenite; I am not, however, disposed to contend this point, especially as the modern nomenclature is not only fleeting, but even degraded, through some of Mr. Davy's splendid discoveries,

ly for both, and probably we may trace the blunder to this source. This fault may be excusable in the Latin language, where there is less choice, but as it really prevails among some English authors, I trust this observation will have its weight and be considered equally as interesting to patients as it is to physicians. Now this error, the unqualified use of the words pint and pound, in one example at least, appears in the same pages of the same volume; therefore, should Fowler's solution be prepared from such an authority, is there not a chance of twelve ounces troy weight being substituted for the pint, or, what is now deservedly preferred, the octarius of the College here?-The technical excellence of the work itself and the high character of the author, to whom I more closely refer, leave no room to doubt that this ambi guity will be removed in a future edition.

In regard to the discordance which exists in our metropolitan pharmacopoeias, there is, notwithstanding some late improvements, still great room for complaint. This important subject was, I have reason to believe, first taken up by myself, by those general observations which are inserted in the 11th and 12th vol. of your Journal, and which must be considered as a mere attempt to encourage others to pursue the same route, who have more leisure and perhaps more knowledge upon this important matter. I cannot subscribe to the necessity of invoking the royal authority to sanction three pharmacopoeias for the united kingdom, while these vo lumes, speaking of them collectively, teem with dissimilarity in names, compounds, materia medica, and indeed in all other particulars. Surely the constitutions of the English, Irish, and Scots do not require cach a distinct set of medicines or a peculiar mode of treatment in any disease whatever; why, therefore, such discongruity in these prescriptions?

This reminds me of my original subject, the arsenical preparations. No reason, I conceive, has yet been assigned why the Dublin College adopts the arseniate of potash, while the London College prefers Fowler's arsenite. If these medicines possess the same powers in all respects, it is unnecessary for the dispensatories still to continue thus diverging; I should think some scheme might be formed to ascertain the respective merits of these two articles at least. Should they prove to be of equal value, I would not hesitate to adopt the arseniate, or Macquer's neutral salt, for there is not a more neat and perfect chemical compound; it is portable, durable, and in every respect most suitable for officinal preference.

The process of the Dublin College for this salt might in some measure be improved, but here I speak with great de ference; the heat I consider as too great, for, if the bottom of the glass vessel be even obscurely red, some part of the

arseniate will be decompounded; I would, therefore, rather say, "igne sensim aucto donec cessaverint vapores, &c."

We know, and it is generally admitted, that a wide difference exists between some mercurial compounds, between calomel and corrosive sublimate as an example; that these produce distinct effects on the human frame, and that practitioners to this day are not quite agreed as to their precise value. I mention this circumstance as it serves to illustrate the following comparison, in which, as far as chemical tests can decide, there is the same opposition in the two preparations of arsenic.

Thus, lime water changes calomel into a black oxide or precipitate, and corrosive sublimate into a bright yellow oxide of mercury, colors certainly perfectly opposite to each other; and in respect to the arsenical compounds, I have, in my late communications to you, fully described the effect of nitrate of silver, which converts the metal of the arsenite into a bright yellow precipitate, being arsenite of silver; while the same reagent turns the arseniate into a deep brick-coloured red. Whether these habitudes of the arsenical salts prognosticate an important variety in them, as medicines, is a question yet to be determined.

It is chiefly in public hospitals, both naval and military, as well as in charitable institutions, that true results can be obtained to guide such a decision, and the relative merits of these and many other remedies fairly appreciated; to the managers of these numerous and proud marks of British cha rity, let us therefore with confidence assign the investigation of this and all similar doubts.

I beg now to testify my obligations to your correspondent, Mr. Jones, for his ready attention to my request, and to say that, having no reason to doubt the accuracy of his conducting the experiments which I suggested, I fully acquiesce in the deductions he has drawn respecting the case of poison by arsenic.

As, in the process of heating the suspected arsenic with nitrate of potash, I rather insist more upon the effect than the color of the nitrous vapors or acid that might arise, let me enforce the necessity of watching the change produced on the litmus-paper; for if the blue become reddish, one proof at least of the presence of the poison is substantiated. In case litmus paper be not at hand we may substitute many other vegetables, such as a strong infusion of red-rose flowers, mallow-flowers, red-cabbage, &c.; by dipping a piece of any clean white paper that does not readily bear ink into one or other of the above infusions.

I remain, Gentlemen, Your obedient servant, Long Acre, Oct. 13, 1810. JOSEPII HUME, (No. 141.)

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