OP THE VENOM OF THE RATTLESNAKE. 115 



suggests tlie free use of stimulus. When this is given, and is successful in raising 

 the pulse, the result is commonly a rapid and easy cure, but the amount of alco- 

 holic fluids necessary to secure even partial intoxication is scarcely credible. 

 Quarts of brandy have been thus taken by delicate females and mere children with- 

 out injury, and almost without effect. This alone is, to some extent, evidence in 

 favor of the remedial means under discussion. 



It is very plain, then, that in the state of profound sedation, or, rather, prostra- 

 tion, which ushers in the general malady, stimulants are distinctly indicated. It 

 is also clear that the means thus pointed out is a physiological antidote, a coun- 

 teractive agent, and is to be used to an effect and with certain precautions. 



When, therefore, a person has been bitten, it would be proper slightl}' to intoxi- 

 cate him, then to loosen the previously applied ligature or cup, and watching 

 the pulse, and relaxing or tightening the ligating cord to control thus the inlet of 

 the poison, with the aid of the stimulus destroy its effects in detail. Finally, the 

 stimulus should be most cautiously and by degrees abandoned, with continued re- 

 gard to the state of the system. 



There is a popular, I might almost have said a medical belief, that the condition 

 of perfect protection is complete intoxication. Two or three authors, as Jeter, 

 Alexander, and others, protest against this idea, and with every appearance of right 

 on their side. 



Profound drunkenness is a condition of sedation and not of excitement, and yet 

 the whole object of using alcohol in snake-bites has been among rational men to 

 stimulate and not to lull or depress the system. In fact, it is well known that per- 

 sons who were at the time " dead drunk," or nearly so, have been bitten by Rattle- 

 snakes, and have obtained thereby no immunity from the effects of the bite. Dr. 

 Brainard, who is opposed to the use of stimulus in Crotalus bite, thinks the evidence 

 in its favor insufhcient, and thus sums up his argument against its utility : — 



"When mixed witb alcohol, the venom is rapidly fatal, if inoculated." This 

 opinion is correct, but has no value as in opposition to the constitutional use of 

 stimuli, because they are not to be regarded as chemical antidotes, and their direct 

 reaction with the venom becomes, therefore, a matter of indifference. 



Dr. Brainard also urges that when venom is injected into the tissues, or intro- 

 duced into the stomachs of birds or small animals bitten, it only hastens death. 



This, he adds, is not conclusive, because alcohol is a poison to birds and other 

 small animals. The authority for these statements I have been unable to find. 

 It is not Fontana, and I cannot discover in Dr. Brainard's papers that the conclu- 

 sion here stated is based upon his own experiments. If true, it would have little 

 value, the real point in queition being whether stimulation is useful in cases of 

 Crotalus bite. To determine this, we should intoxicate animals and then inocu- 

 late them with known amounts of venom, or first inoculate and then give the 

 stimulant. Moreover, we should resort to as large animals as can easily be 

 managed ; the venom being so fatal to all small animals, and especially to birds, 

 as to give but little time for remedies. Again, in small animals, and particularly 

 in birds, it is not always easy to ascertain and govern the degree of stimulation 

 which may be present or desirable. 



