332 VENOMS 



"While fastening her door about 10 o'clock one night a Hindu 

 woman was bitten by a cobra in the left foot, about 1 inch above 

 the metatarso-phalangeal joints of the second and third toes. 

 About ten minutes after the bite natives applied three strong 

 ligatures, one above the ankle, one below, and one above the 

 knee-joint. Four hours later 'Fowl' treatment was applied, which 

 it appears gives marvellous results. The author arrived about 

 nine hours after the accident, during the ' Fowl ' treatment, for 

 which nineteen chickens had already been sacrificed. In spite of 

 this the patient was pulseless (no radial pulse — the brachial pulse 

 was thready and flickering) ; respiration about six per minute. An 

 injection of strychnine improved her condition for a few minutes. 

 When the incision, which had been made over the bite, was 

 crucially enlarged, large quantities of dark blood were withdrawn 

 by cupping. In spite of this the patient's condition grew worse, 

 and her respiration fell to three a minute ; she then received an 

 injection of 10 c.c. of Calmette's serum in the left buttock. The 

 pulse immediately became stronger, and respiration increased to 

 ten per minute. About half an hour after the first, a fresh injection 

 of 10 c.c. of serum was given in the same place. Within five 

 minutes the appearance of the patient, who had seemed to be 

 dying, became normal. The pulse grew stronger, and respiration 

 was about fifteen per minute. One hour after the injections the 

 patient was practically cured. 



"The 'Fowl' treatment consists in applying directly to the 

 wound, after the latter has been slightly enlarged by means of an 

 incision, the anal apertures of living fowls, from which the sur- 

 rounding feathers have been removed. The fowl immediately 

 becomes drowsy, its eyes blink, and its head falls on its breast with 

 the beak open, after which the bird rapidly succumbs. Twenty 

 fowls had been employed in the present case, but in vain." (The 

 author does not appear to have troubled himself to ascertain 

 whether the fowls were really dead, or had merely fallen into 

 a hypnotic condition.) 



