Action of Venoms on the Blood.
On making an autopsy of an animal which has succumbed to intoxication by snake-venom, we find that the blood in the heart and large vessels is sometimes coagulated into a mass, sometimes entirely fluid, and that, in certain cases, it is as black as prune-juice, while in others it is of a fine transparent red colour.
These differences in the effects of venom upon the blood are due to the fact that the various venoms contain in variable proportions, besides the neurotoxic substance which represents the true venomous toxin, other substances which act, some upon the plasmasia or fibrin-ferment, or upon the fibrin, others upon the red corpuscles, others on the leucocytes, and others again on the endothelium of the blood-vessels.