170 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



in consequence of the entrance of the poison into the blood, a 

 rapid growth of new cells occurred, which choke and exhaust 

 both the fibrin and the oxygen of the blood, and render it in- 

 capable of any longer ministering to the wants of the system, 

 he now thinks that the new corpuscles are only the ordinary 

 white corpuscles of the blood strangely altered and colored,, 

 the change in them being caused by an alteration of the me- 

 dium in which they float ; this alteration being, in fact, a dis- 

 appearance of the fibrin under the action of the poison. The 

 ammonia, of course, in Dr. Halford's view, counteracts this 

 power of the poison. 13 A, September 13, 319. 



1IALFOKD METHOD OF CURING SNAKE-BITES. 



A great contrariety of opinion seems to exist in regard to 

 the value of Dr. Halford's method of treating snake-bites. 

 The American and European physiologists who have discuss- 

 ed the question, or who have repeated the experiments, ap- 

 pear to attach very little value to it, but the Australian fac- 

 ulty are quite unanimous in their indorsement. 



Professor Halford, in a recent communication, discusses the 

 symptoms of 20 cases treated by his process, under the hands 

 of different practitioners, widely remote from each other. In 

 17 cases recovery followed, and in 13 of these the practition- 

 ers were of the opinion that death would certainly have en- 

 sued without this counteracting agency. The treatment con- 

 sists in injecting about three minims of dilute ammonia, of 

 the specific gravity of .959, into a superficial vein, by piercing 

 its coats with the nozzle of a hypodermic syringe. The cura- 

 tive effect is said to be almost immediate, and several physi- 

 cians stated that the recovery from collapse was so rapid and 

 startling as to be almost magical. It still remains a ques- 

 tion, however, whether, notwithstanding Dr. Halford's assur- 

 ances, the Australian snakes are really as venomous as those 

 of America the contrary being, it is understood, the opinion 

 of Dr. Krefft, of Sydney. We await with much interest the 

 result of renewed experiments in this country, and can only 

 express the hope that the application may be successful in 

 cases of bites of rattlesnakes and copperheads, since in the 

 latest memoir on the venom of the rattlesnake, by Dr. Mitch- 

 ell, of Philadelphia, he expresses the opinion positively that 

 no remedy exists in cases where the poison is mature, and has 



