114 P II YSIOLOGT AND TOXICOLOGY 



dogs which were under the influence of the antidote, were for some time incapable 

 of being aflected by Rattlesnake bites. This experimenter states that after seven- 

 teen experiments, iu which three dogs were at different times bitten by seventeen 

 difterent serpents, he met with no case in which the antidote failed. These 

 results are not stated with sufficient precision as to the condition of the snake, 

 the number of fang-marks, or the place of the bite, but they are still sufficiently 

 interesting to awaken further research. 



Dr. Hammond was not so fortunate as Mr. Xantus. He experimented with 

 the antidote on a wolf which was apparently saved by the use of the bromine after 

 being once bitten, but upon another occasion, having been thrice bitten, died sud- 

 denly, exhibiting, however, some evidence of having been aided by the remedy. 

 A dog severely injured by snake-bite was successfully treated by Dr. Hammond 

 with the bromine antidote. 



One of the cases of man in which Dr. Coolidge (Dr. Hammond's Eeport) used 

 this antidote, was also treated with local injection of iodine, and must, therefore, 

 be laid aside. The patient expressed herself relieved by the use of the antidote. 



The case directly reported by Dr. Hammond also seemed to experience great 

 assistance from the antidote, so that even the local symptoms were promptly 

 relieved by'its use. No local means seem to have been employed, and the case is 

 thus unusually free from complication. 



Mr. Xantus' case was said to have been almost hopeless when the bromine 

 was employed. • The worst symptoms rapidly subsided when the antidote was given, 

 although but two doses were used. AVere it not for our knowledge of the natural 

 history of the malady, and of the strange suddenness with which cases almost mori- 

 bund rapidly amend, we could not fail to be greatly impressed with the evidence 

 thus furnished. As it is, perceiving no obvious adaptation of means to ends, we 

 can only await the issues of a larger and more general experience to determine 

 the question. 



My own experiments upon the use of this antidote were made on sixteen dogs, 

 and were conducted with scrupulous care. It does not suit my present purpose to 

 enter into the details; it will suffice to state that their results were neai'ly negative. 

 Of eight dogs bitten and treated with the antidote, two died; while of eight bitten, 

 and not so treated, three died. 



The last of the reputed antidotes which we shall criticize is alcoholic stimulus. 

 In one form or another this has been emjiloyed in India and in this country, and 

 no single remedy is so much in repute along our borders or in our Rattlesnake 

 regions. Perhaps the evidence in its favor is not much better than that which 

 exists for some other means, but its real strength, in the lack of proper and nume- 

 rous reports, lies in its obvious adaptation to the wants of those who seek its aid. 

 Moreover, the experiments on the state of the heart and nervous system of animals, 

 in the first stage of the Crotalus maladj^, clearly indicate a condition of things which 

 is to be met alone by the use of supporting agents, and these the most rapid and 

 effective which we can command. 



When, too, we consider the state of a person bitten, and constitutionally affected, 

 we perceive at once that we have to deal with a degree of prostration which instantly 



