354 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1893. 



^Ir. True, in the sivnic article, also published letters from two Texan 

 physicians reporting- three cases of bites by Coral Snakes, two of which 

 ended fatally, the first ones on record, I believe.* 



Dr. Thomas Kearney, of San Antonio, relates one case, as follows: 



The following case of a bite of a Coral Snake, follo\ve<l by death, occurred near 

 Corpus Christi, Texas, during the last year of the '• late unpleasantness." An infant 

 child of Mr. Alexander Stringer was ]>layiug in the yard, and being attracted by the 

 bright colors of a coral snake, grasped it near the uiiddle. The screams of the child 

 brought its parents to its relief, but too late; the snake had done its work. The 

 child lingered in great agony until the following morning and died, as above stated. 

 The snake, as described tome, was about 18 inches long. 



The other cases were reported by Dr. J. Herff, also of San Antonio, 

 who wrote that one of the bitten men died in twenty-four hours, while 

 the other one recovered after an almost fatal prostration of thirty-six 

 hours' duration : 



The»fatal case I know of came under my observation a few minutes before death 

 occurred nnder the symptoms of ])aralysis of tue heart. The second case was 

 brought soon enough for me to try stimulants — whisky, hypodermic injections of 

 ammonia, and fomentations of digitalis leaves over the region of the kidneys. The 

 man, a strong young .Scotchman, recovered in three days, and felt only a feeling of 

 tingling in his extremities for some time after. * * * Both men kept the snakes 

 as pets, and the last one nsedto])ut his linger in the animals mouth very often to 

 show how tame he was. One day he. put it in a little deeper than usual, and while 

 trying to extricate it the teeth bit him. 



It would, however, seem that death from the bite of this snake is not 

 so very uncommon, for Mr. Frederick A. Lucas informs me that a 

 brother of Mr. S. A. Kobinsou, of Orlando, Fla., has told him that he 

 knows of three fatal cases. I may also refer to the cases recently 

 reported by Dr. Einar Ltennberg in the Proceedings of the U. S. 

 National Museum (vol. xviii, 1894, p. 334). 



That great authority on snake poison, Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, of Phila- 

 delphia, nevertheless asserted t as late as 1889 that " the beautiful Coral 

 Snake, the little Elaps of Florida," is "too small with us to be danger- 

 ous to man.'' Dr. Paul B. Barringer, of the University of Virginia, in a 

 well- written account of "The Venomous Reptiles of the United States," 

 read before the Southern Surgical and Gynecological Association, Nov- 

 vember 1-5, 1891, | strongly ])rotests against this and quotes a case, 

 reported by Mr. Charles B. Coe, § of a workman at Oakland, Orange 

 County, Fla., who died from the effects of a bite. About half an hour 

 after being bitten pains came on in his hand and arm, followed by 

 drowsiness and a dull pain in the head. A doctor was called, but the 

 man died eighteen hours after receiving the bite. 



* Harlan, however, states that the Harlequin Snake "may be fatally mistaken for 

 the scarlet snake." (Med. and Phys. Researches, 18.S.">, p. 127.) 

 t Century Magazine, xxxvill, August, 1889, p. 505. 

 t Venomous Re]»tik'S of the United States, p. 3. 

 ^ Scientific American, i.xiv, .June 27, 1891, p. 101. 



