38 SERPENTS OF THE NORTHEASTERN STATES 



made sufficiently tight to indicate a stoppage of circulation. Even mod- 

 erate pressure tends to localize the area of poisoning. 



With the absorption of the poison retarded, the fang wounds 

 should be opened by an incision across them to an estimated depth of 

 three-eighths of an inch for a large rattlesnake, or a quarter of an 

 inch for a copperhead. The incision should be made with care not to 

 injure the delicate tissue covering a bone, or to cut into a blood vessel. 

 If no cupping device is at hand, drainage should be induced by sucking 

 the wound, there being practically no danger from this if the lips and 

 mouth are free from sores. 



After these immediate emergency measures for eliminating as 

 much poison as possible from the vicinity of the wound, the serum 

 should be administered. It is provided in tubes which are actually 

 small hypodermic syringes, and it is only necessary to attach the needle 

 and the handle. A portion of the serum may be injected in the vicinity 

 of the bite, and the balance under the skin between the shoulder blades 

 or on the abdomen, by what is known as subcutaneous injection. In 

 this way it is quickly taken up by the general circulation. The entire 

 contents of a tube should be injected for a bite. If symptoms are par- 

 ticularly grave, two tubes may be necessary. Intravenous injection 

 might be advisable if the poison fangs have punctured a blood vessel, 

 but this should be done only under the direction of a doctor who has 

 actually diagnosed the condition. Tubes of serum are accompanied Dy 

 full directions for use. 



The ligature should be slacked off every ten minutes or so, to in- 

 duce bleeding at the wound. If no serum is available, the treatment 

 of suction and the frequent slackening of the ligature should be con- 

 tinued, and additional drainage incisions, upward from the injury, are 

 necessary if the swelling greatly increases. If a good cupping device is 

 at hand, the incisions should be rather short and X-shaped so as not 

 to extend beyond the suction surface of the device and thus admit air. 

 It is well to wash the incision with a mild solution of permanganate of 

 potassium crystals in pure water (enough to produce a pale amethyst 

 hue), as this fluid will neutralize by oxidation what venom it may 

 reach. The use of strong solutions of permanganate of potassium, 

 however, is not only unwise, but dangerous, as much tissue destruction 

 accompanies the use of this chemical at a high strength. This caution 

 also includes the utter rashness of rubbing pure crystals of perman- 

 ganate into a wound. Moreover, such a wound should never be cau- 

 terized. Nothing should be more foreign to the treatment of snake bite 

 than such practice, which actually seals the destructive poison within 

 the tissue. 



As not only the immediate area of the wound, but a considerable 

 portion of the neighboring tissue, is much weakened and subject to 

 bacterial' invasion, and the bite itself is sometimes attended by specific 





