OF THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. Ill 



above precautions have been neglected, and where the sudden prostration which 

 ensued was most appalling. 



Dr. Alexander relates a singular, but instructive case, in which the ligature 

 was retained for sixteen hours. Meanwhile, the parts below were swollen and 

 vesicating, but the system remained unaffected, and readily passed under the 

 induence of stimulants. Either during the profound intoxication which ensued, or 

 soon after, at all events, sixteen hours from the time of the bite, the ligature was 

 removed. The swelling at once passed the line of the ligating cord, and advanced 

 up the leg to the body. The patient died in two hours after the release of the 

 previously isolated poison. Instructed by this sad case, the reporter directs that 

 the ligature should be merely relaxed, and the pulse kept up with stimulants as 

 required, and that the cord should be tightened or loosened as the symptoms direct. 

 This plan is so clearly recommended by common sense, that it is needless to dwell 

 upon it further. 



Unfortunately, the ligature can be used only when the bite is on an extremity. 

 In other cases, cups may be similarly employed, but even these are not always 

 available, as where the nose is the part bitten, and moreover, they are not always 

 at hand. 



Caustics.— These agents are supposed to be useful, not only by destroying the 

 tissues, and so unfitting them for absorption, but also by chemically acting on 

 the venom itself So far as they do act on the tissues, they are beneficial, 

 when fully applied along or through previous incisions. As to their power to alter 

 the venom, it is clear that the actual cautery does do this effectually, but, as we 

 have seen, potassa, soda, ammonia, and the undiluted mineral acids (Jo not affect 

 its toxic potency. Except, then, as they alter the tissues, it were better to reject 

 them, and to depend upon the actual cautery alone, where such means is deemed of 

 value. 



Glass 3(7.— Dr. Brainard, some time ago, directed attention to the injection of an 

 iodized solution of iodine, as a means of destroying the activity of Crotalus venom. 

 His process is as follows : Ten grains of iodine and thirty grains of iodide of potas- 

 sium are dissolved in one ounce of water. The bitten part is first cupped, or a 

 ligature is applied on the limb, until the tissues are swollen with serum sufficiently 

 to enable the injection to be diffused through the distended areolar spaces. The 

 sharp point of a trocar, or injecting-tube, is then pushed laterally into the bitten 

 part, and the injection effected by pressing down the piston of the syringe, whde 

 the exhaustion of the cup is still carried on. Apart from the antidotal value of 

 this ingenious method, it is clear that the necessary apparatus is not easily procu- 

 rable in time to be of use. Moreover, Dr. Brainard adds that, to render it 

 effectual, we must be provided with cups of various curves adapted to fit the 

 surfaces of the body and limbs. Dr. Brainard states that the iodine does not act 

 as a caustic. M. Reynose, in an admirable paper, has examined the statements of 

 Dr. Brainard, and especially with reference to the action of iodine as an antidote 

 to woorara. He arrived at the conclusion that the iodine was a caustic, and that 

 its value was due to this f\ict, a conclusion in which his experiments did not entirely 

 justify him. 



