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Scientific Memoirs by

      This concludes the record of the experiments directly dealing with the
question of the efficacy of antivenene and of cobra-serum as antidotes in cases
of snake-bite and with that of the means of establishing artificial immunity to
the action of snake-venoms, which have been conducted during the course of the
past season. The most important conclusions to be derived from it would
appear to be of the following nature:—

          (1) The serum of the blood of animals, which have been artificially im-
munised to the action of lethal doses of snake-venoms by means of
habitual and cumulative treatment with the latter, unequivocally
possesses antidotal properties, and hence may fairly be denominated
antivenene.

          (2) The term antivenene is, however, of generic, not specific value, for
the antidotal material contained in the blood of animals which have
been artificially immunised against colubrine venom is inert against
viperine venom and vice versâ.

          (3) The amount of active antidotal material in the blood of artificially-
immunised animals would appear to bear a definite and direct
relation to the amount of venom against which immunity has been
established, the actual quantity of antidote present in the system
in any case being apparently little in excess of that requisite to
equilibrate the toxic action of the amount of venom, under the
influence of which it has been elaborated.

          (4) In consequence of this, treatment with crude antivenene is only
adapted to secure recovery in cases where minimal or, at utmost,
slightly supra-minimal lethal doses of venom are opposed by re-
latively large doses of the serum of highly-immunised animals.

              In order to secure recovery after the access of any given dose of
venom to the system, the quantity of antivenene which must be
employed will necessarily vary with the degree of immunity which
has been established in the animal from which it has been derived.
In cases where the degree of immunity has been very high,
relatively limited quantities of antivenene may be capable of
conflicting successfully with small doses of venom; but, as in
order to conflict successfully with any given dose, an amount of
antivenene equivalent to the entire, or almost entire, antivenene
content of the blood of an animal which has been immunised
against a like dose is necessary, in dealing with large doses of
venom the amount of the remedy requisite to secure recovery
must almost inevitably become prohibitive, and treatment with
crude antivenene little better than treatment by transfusion of
blood.