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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



[Sept. 1, 1867. 



palm of a healthy young man ; and I am no stranger 

 to the feverish excitement and severe local irritation 

 resulting from the bites inflicted by bed-bugs in 

 discharge of their allotted task. I destroy all such 

 pests when they intrude upon me, and I cannot 

 imagine that many are of Mr. Ullyett's way of 

 thinking respecting the viper, and care to protect so 

 obnoxious a reptile,— for, independent of his inter- 

 esting cases as to the comparative harmlessness of 

 the reptile's bite, I fancy many instances could be 

 produced where it would be seen that the viper's 

 bite is a malignant and a deadly one. The recollec- 

 tion of the following case induces me to imagine 

 that the venom of the viper, when fairly introduced, 

 is capable of producing death, or a very close 

 approximation to it, to the person so injured. Some 

 sixteen years ago, while residing in Essex, a healthy, 

 industrious, and temperate labouring man, came 

 under my notice, he having, some twelve or fourteen 

 hours previously, been bitten by an adder on the 

 dorsum of his right hand, about an inch above the 

 first joint of the middle finger. The man's age was 

 about 3G years, and he had enjoyed very good health 

 for several years, not during this period being 

 necessitated to absent himself from his daily labour. 

 He was, when bitten, in the enjoyment of his usual 

 good health, and he was engaged in the fields cut- 

 ting some fagots or dry stubble (I forget just now 

 exactly which), but he came upon a group of adders ; 

 one of these sprang at him, and seized his right 

 hand, as mentioned ; he shook it from him, and 

 killed it. He sucked the wound well, but not im- 

 mediately after he had rid himself of the reptile, 

 but after he had destroyed it, so that absorption of 

 the virus was complete. Soon after this he began 

 to experience a sense of burning and stabbing pain 

 in the hand; the arm also became heavy and stiff. 

 The wound gradually assumed an angry look, while 

 the hand became much swollen. 



When I saw him he was in bed ; the bitten mem- 

 ber had been placed in a warm poultice of herbs ; 

 the man was feverish, flushed, and excited— the 

 pulse being small and rapid, the tongue and fauces 

 parched ; he was very thirsty. A sedative was given 

 to him, and a free but guarded supply of ammonia, 

 with brandy, given at rather frequent intervals. A 

 faint and bright redness was extending up the fore- 

 arm, nearly to the elbow, and some marked amount 

 of swelling also was clearly present. A large linseed 

 poultice was applied over the entire bmb, from the 

 fingers to the elbow-joint. He passed a restless 

 night, and next day at noon the hand and forearm 

 were greatly swollen, the band being mottled with 

 -green and yellow on a dusky red ground ; the wound 

 on the dorsum was sloughy, and discharged a dirty- 

 coloured sanies. The forearm was much swollen 

 and discoloured, but less so than the hand. Inflam- 

 matory and morbid action was extending up the 

 •arm; it was dusky-red in colour, painful, and swollen. 



At times, a low form of delirium existed, and the 

 tongue was dry and brownish. Increased attention 

 was given to the poor fellow, and on the extension 

 of the morbid action over the entire limb — from 

 fingers to shoulder— several long and free incisions 

 were made through the distended and discoloured 

 integuments, so as to prevent sloughing of the 

 whole, and also to give vent to the dark-coloured 

 and foetid sanies which had accumulated from dis- 

 organization of the cellular tissue. Much relief 

 followed these incisions, and charcoal and other 

 poultices gradually corrected the fcetor of the dis- 

 charge; while, at intervals, considerable portions 

 of the cellular tissue sloughed away through the 

 openings mentioned. All this anxious period the 

 patient required the closest attention and care ; the 

 delirium, restlessness, and tendency to collapse 

 were combated by the rather free use of opiates, 

 ammonia, brandy, strong beef-tea, &c, until after 

 the lapse of ten or twelve days, when the danger, 

 once so great, was considered as past, and a decrease 

 in our solicitude took place. 



However, some six or eight weeks were consumed 

 before he could resume some of his duties as a farm 

 labourer, and then only with an enfeebled limb, and 

 one marked with distinct scars, which will ever 

 remind him of the danger he had experienced from 

 the bite of a viper. Against the whole tribe the man 

 vowed vengeance. 



Now, although this case of being bitten by a 

 viper had not a fatal termination, I fancy it will 

 not acquire any increased toleration for the reptile 

 from those who may read its details. Had the man 

 been less robust, or been deprived of ordinary care 

 and attention, I fancy a fatal result would have 

 been recorded. Supposing the reptile had bitten a 

 child instead of the man, death would then have 

 been certain, I.e., if we may judge from the 

 symptoms reported. 



Sir Charles Bell, I think, like to Mr. Ullyett, has 

 expressed his belief in the non-fatal effects of the 

 viper's bite ; and while respecting Mr. Ullyett's 

 humane motive — the protection of the creatures he 

 studies— I must confess, from the recollection of 

 the above case, that 1 should be induced to destroy 

 the reptile whenever and wherever I might see it. 

 It has a bad, a very bad character, and is, there is no 

 gainsaying it, a dangerous reptile ; and from some 

 resemblance it has to the common and harmless 

 snakes, it passes its own demerits upon its harm- 

 less and certainly useful congeners, who are ac- 

 cordingly sacrificed needlessly by all who believe 

 all snakes to be, like the viper, poisonous. 



Frederick Hall. 



The writer of a very interesting article (" Bitten 

 by a Viper") in your issue for last month, says 

 that when he suggested that the viper's bite should 

 be sucked or cauterized, his friend asserted the use- 

 lessness of these expedients, excepting, perhaps, 



