Cobra Venom

is a diastase which acts principally on phosphatids such as lecithin of egg-yolk or of sera, and on cellular nuclein. In lecithin it brings about the formation of a substance lysocithin, which is soluble in water and is instantaneously hemolytic for all bloods. It is a cytolysin, destructive of leucocytes and epithelial cells of different tissues and organs, and indeed, in vitro, a sufficiently concentrated solution will dissolve hepatic, cerebral, or renal cells. It is this quality that has suggested the use of cobra venom in the treatment of carcinoma. According to Laignel-Lavastine ophidian poison, that of the cobra is not specified, has long been an item of the homeopathic pharmacopoeia, but the dose recommended, one millionth of a milligramme has been too infinitesimal to make obvious any therapeutic effect. Experimentally various authors have noted the action of cobra venom on the medulla, the blood, on striated and plain muscle fibres, on nerve tissues and on those structures to which the venom has been locally applied, but until comparatively recently its antalgic properties have escaped investigation. With Koressios, Laignel-Lavastine has used o-i to 0-5 mgm. cobra venom as a safe dose in man, administered hypodermically. During some three years, Taguet of Paris and Monaelesser of New York, at the suggestion of Calmette have treated tumours and various painful affections by the injection of cobra venom, and in addition to the antalgic effects they have observed amelioration in the general condition of the patient and often arrest of growth and sometimes even regression of the lesion. But like Laignel-Lavastine and