one of anaemia. The blood, even at this
early stage, begins to accumulate in the large veins of the abdomen,
which expand gradually in consequence of the diminishing motor force
supplied by the splanchnicus, keeping them in the normal state of
contraction when intact and having its centre in the medulla oblongata.
When this large vaso-motor nerve is cut in animals anywhere in its
course, the veins of the abdomen become distended enormously. The animal
is, so to say, bled into its own belly.

By a series of most interesting experiments Feoktistow has shown
conclusively that snake-poison has the same effect on the abdominal
circulation as section of the splanchnicus. Even slight intravenous
injections of the poison produced quickly a high degree of paresis of
the nerve and a corresponding engorgement of the veins of the abdomen,
whilst after lethal doses, the paresis culminated in a few minutes in
complete paralysis, followed by rapid collapse, excessive weakness of
the bloodless heart, and death from paralysis of the latter and anaemia
of the nerve-centres. One experiment deserves special record, as it also
shows the untenability of the blood-poison theory.

The whole vascular system of an animal poisoned by intravenous injection
was thoroughly washed out with the warm defibrinised blood of four
animals of the same species, the blood being infused into an external
jugular vein and allowed to flow out of a crural artery. Although blood
exceeding its normal quantity was left in the animal, when the vessels
named were closed, the nerve affection remained unchanged. The blood
pressure raised during the infusion sank at once again to zero, when it
ceased, and the paralysed veins of the abdomen became engorged once
more with the whole, or nearly the whole, of the blood-mass, leaving the
rest of the body anaemic as before. This interesting experiment also
shows how strong a hold the snake-poison has on the nerve-cells when
they are thoroughly under its influence, and how independent this
paralysing action is of the blood, persisting, as it was in this case,
after all the poison had been washed out of the animal.

The heart in vaso-motor paresis and paralysis is weakened in the first
instance by the direct action of the poison on the medulla oblongata and
the intracardiac ganglia. Its pulsations, at first retarded in
frequency, become accelerated soon after the introduction of the poison,
the pulse rate increasing rapidly and