36 Transactions of the Kansas 



ON THE BITE OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 



By Joseph Savage, of Lawrence. 



It has fallen to my lot to narrate to you, briefly, some of the experiences of our 

 worthy President, Prof. F. H. Snow, while siift'ering from the bite of a rattlesnake, 

 which occurred during his expedition upon the plains of Western Kansas, last 

 summer. 



The party were in camp about fifteen miles south of Buffalo station, upon a small 

 stream known as Hackberry creek. There were in the party Profs. Snow and 

 Mudge, with students Foster and Dyche. The bite was received upon the twenty- 

 seventh day of June, 1878. The circumstances attending it came about in the fol- 

 lowing manner : 



In the morning Prof. Snow went from camp about two miles, to what is known as 

 Cathedral Rock; this rock is a high bluff and a prominent landmark in all that region. 

 He was here alone, until about eleven o'clock, when he returned to camp, holding 

 a small rattlesnake in his left hand, and in his right he had a portion of the vertebral 

 column of a fossil fish, somewhat distorted into the shape of a good sized pistol. 

 The Professor remarked, playfully, as he reached camp, that he had a snake in one 

 hand and a pistol to shoot it with in the other. The snake had three rattles and a 

 button. It was decided, after some debate, to put the snake into alcohol for preser- 

 vation For th's purpose a bottle with along, small neck was produced, and after 

 some further discussion as to methods, it was thought safest to introduce the snake 

 into the bottle tail foremost. To this the snake objected, and in the struggle be- 

 tween the ni' n and the s: ahe, in an unguarded moment, the right hand was held 

 abovo the head of the snake, when the venomous reptile, with the coils of its tail 

 plac d firmly agu'nst the neck of the bottle, darted upward with one convulsive 

 sprinr, taking with it the left hand and arm of its captor, and buried its poisonous 

 fangs in the tip of the second finger of the right hand. Now, almost all men have, 

 from habit, some ejaculation which will gush forth in times of excitement without 

 their consent; so it was with the subject of this story, and out it came : "By 

 George, he has bitten me." As quick as thought the reptile was thrown upon the 

 ground and held in place by the foot, while the poor bleeding finger was instantly 

 placed in the mouth and vigorously sucked. 



Both our President and Vice-President expressed themselves pleased with hav- 

 ing a long-cherished desire gratified of seeing the effects of a rattlesnake bite. 

 The latter gentleman, however, expressed his willingness to have the bite on 

 some one besides himself, while the former submitted to the inevitable without 

 grumbling. A string was immediately tied around the bitten finger, just .nbove 

 the knuckle, and the bite was soon lanced, to let the blood flow more freely. The 

 pain from the bite was very severe, the most intense of any ever before experienced, 

 and was compared to having a hundred 'lot needles thrust into one's flesh, all at 

 once. The subject of the bit© had had the nerve of a tooth pulled out by a dentist, 

 the pain of which was ac nothing compared ^o this pain from the bite. In two or 

 three minutes the intensity oi tlie pain subsided into a good sound wholesome ache, 

 which, after twenty-four hours, entirely ceased; In a few moments after the bite, 

 the finger had swollen to nearly twice its usual size, and iiad lurned nearly black; 

 it was then lanced ".pen one side, relieving it somewhat; after another half hour it 



