Many chemical substances modify or destroy venoms, and we shall see in another chapter that several of them, by reason of their properties, may be very usefully employed for the destruction, in the actual wound resulting from a venomous bite, of the venom that has not yet been absorbed in the circulation.
Among these substances the most important are:—
A 1 per cent. solution of permanganate of potash (Lacerda).
A 1 per cent. solution of chloride of gold (Calmette).
Chloride of lime or even hypochloride of calcium (Calmette), in a solution of 1 in 12, which is augmented, at the moment of use, by 5 to 6 volumes of distilled water, so as to bring it to the standard strength of about 850 cubic centimetres of active chlorine per litre of solution.
A 1 per cent. solution of chromic acid (Kaufmann).
Saturated bromized water (Calmette).
A 1 per cent. solution of trichloride of iodine (Calmette).
All these chemical bodies also modify or destroy the diastases and the microbic toxins. The venoms, although more resistant to the influence of heat, behave, therefore, like these latter, and exhibit the closest affinity with them. Moreover, like all the normal glandular juices, they possess very manifest zymotic properties, which singularly complicate their physiological action, and upon which we shall dwell later on.