!34 SOME sol IM INDIAN [NSBCTS, ETC CHAP. XXIII. 



Fig. 107. The Russell's Viper ( Vipera russellii), useful on account of its val 

 as .1 destroyer "I rats bul dangerously poisonous to man. > Author's original 



phi 'i' i. 



A great deal of rubbish has been written on the treatment of 

 snake-bite, a subject which seems to appeal strongly to the 

 credulity of the general public, and the most extraordinary methods 

 ol cure are vaunted in blind faith ; unfortunately many of these are 

 tried in cases where either the snake is non-venomous or a lethal 

 dose of poison has not been injected and cures are consequently 

 claimed in cases in which tin patient would have recovered in any 

 case. Snake-stones, Tanjore pills, the use of ammonia or alcohol, 

 may all be cited as examples of this. If poison has really been 

 injected, the only effective cure is by injection of an appropriate 

 anti-venene prepared by gradually inoculating an animal, usually 

 a horse, to withstand increasing dosages ol the poison of that 

 particular kind of snake. A bivalent anti-venene prepared to 

 counteract the poisons of the Cobra and Russell's Viper is pre- 

 pared and available, but for other snakes no such cure is at present 

 possible as their venoms cannot be obtained in sufficient quantity 

 for the preparation of anti-venenes. Once in the tissues the poison 

 spreads with such extreme rapidity that ligaturing, incision with 

 or without the application of oxydising agents such as potassium 

 permanganate, or even amputation, are of little practical use unless 

 applied with .i promptitude which is usually impracticable; deep 

 incision, making several deep parallel cuts along the length of the 



