834 Dr. Hancock's Remarks on Snake- Poisons. 



Mutis, from whom Humboldt's account is chiefly taken, and 

 almost copied verbatim (for 1 have the MS. of Mulis, or a 

 copy of it), asserts indeed, that, by inoculation with the guaco, 

 the system is rendered secure or unobnoxious to snake-poisons, 

 for any length of time afterwards ! but this exquisite item, we 

 may imagine, the learned Baron thought rather too good to be 

 true; for he has suppressed, or made no allusion to it. 



Another thing worthy of notice here is, that the name of 

 guaco, or bejuco de guaco, in the parts of Spanish America 

 where I have sojourned, is almost exclusively applied to dif- 

 ferent species of aristolochia, and not to a com{)Osite or corym- 

 biferous plant like the mikania guaco of Mutis. May not 

 Mutis have mistaken this composite for the guaco of the 

 people ? If not, they have since, most of them, mistaken 

 him ! At all events, it is chiefly amongst the different spe- 

 cies of aristolochia that the natives seek their antidotes. 



I have just observed another account of the guaco (all from 

 the same source, however), in the Lancet of the 10th of April 

 — it is complete nonsense, although read before the College of 

 Physicians. 



The plant called raiz de mato is an aromatic bitter species 

 of aristolochia. This plant is esteemed as a most certain 

 remedy in the Orinoque and Venezuela, for the bites of the 

 mapanary, the rattle-snake, and other venomous serpents. 

 (See the Lancet of the 6th March for further particulars, and 

 where I have related a case which fell under my own observa- 

 tion.) 



The efficacy of this method, by suction and scarifying, and 

 the inutility of all others usually resorted to, will, I hope, be 

 considered a sufficient apology for brief repetitions which I 

 have made on several occasions. 



The maporiti chequita, also, is an herb, exhaling an odour 



addressed, in 1827, to the Rev, Stephen Isaacson, A.M., Secretary to the Phil; 

 Soc. of British Guiana ; but, in January following, we had the most direct and 

 convincing proofs of the total inefficacy of the guaco ; the fresh herb was tried 

 by several gentlemen of that Society, on fowls, dogs, and several other animals, 

 bitten by the rattle-snake and labaria, in George Town. Not long after this an 

 occasion presented for proving it on the human subject : — A servant of Captain 

 Warren, of George Town, was bitten, whilst in the act of giving water or food to 

 the reptile {crota/ius durissus). The guaco was instantly procured, was given in 

 large doses, and applied to the wound, but without the smallest efi'ect. The man 

 died in a few hours after the accident. — The results, therefore, have fully con- 

 firmed my anticipations respecting the value of the guaco as an antidote. 



