The Treatment of Snake Bite 



Bv CLARENCE R. HALTER 



TOCIETHER with the gem-ral advance 

 in the discovery and preparation of 

 specific antitoxms employed in cases 

 of infectious diseases, there has ap- 

 peared a very reliable serum, or antitoxin, for 

 the treatment of snake bite. This uiiti- 

 venomous serum as it is called, is prepared in 

 much the same way as are the other anti- 

 toxins used in the various hospitals throu'jli- 

 out the country. 



A large and powerful horse is generally 

 selected and innoculated at certain intervals 

 with gradually increasing amount.s of snake 

 poison. At the beginning of the treatment 

 the doses are so small as to produce no very 

 marked physical manifestations, but as the 

 animal becomes immune to the action of the 

 venom, the doses are increased until there 

 appears a time when the system is so forti- 

 fied against this poison that it produces no 

 ill eflfects whatever upon the horse. At this 

 stage blood is drawn and allowed to congeal, 

 and the serum which separates from the con- 

 gealed mass is collected and put up in hermeti- 

 cally sealed tubes or bottles, ready for use. 

 In a dry state this antivenomous serum 

 keeps indefinitely, but in a fluid form it 

 seldom keeps its antitoxic properties longer 

 than six months. After such a lapse of time 

 it is advisable to discard it, and procure a 

 fresh stock. 



The dissimilarities in the action of virus 

 of different snakes necessitate the employ- 

 ment of a specific serum corresponding to 

 each virus, and indeed prepared through the 

 use of the particular poison it is intended to 

 combat. Dr. Vital Brazil, world famous as 

 a toxicologist, has prepared two specific 

 antivenomous serums, anti-crotaline serum 

 for use in instances of rattlesnake bite, and 

 anti-bothropine serum administered in cases 

 of bites of the Bothrops or Lachesis snakes, 

 comprising the fer-de-lance, the bushmaster 

 (the largest poisonous snake of the Western 

 Hemisphere) and the other pit vipers of this 

 genus. The antivenin produced by Dr. 

 Albert Calmette of the Pasteur Institute in 

 Lille, France, is quite effective against the 

 violent action of the elapine and crotaline 

 snake poisons, and is produced through the 

 agency of the venom taken from the cobras 



and the; vipers. It may be remarked in this 

 connection that the venom of the cobras and 

 their allies is chiefly neurotoxic in its proi)er- 

 ties, affecting the nervous system to a very 

 marked degree, while the poison of the crota- 

 line snakes is mainly haemorrhagic in its 

 action, violently attacking the blood system 

 while having comparatively little effect up- 

 on the nerves. Tlierefore we must readily 

 understand the value of employing a specific 

 antivenin which is prepared to counteract 

 a neurotoxic or a haemorrhagic venom as the 

 circumstances may dictate. 



In the general treatment of snake bite 

 other measures besides the administration 

 of the serum must be luidertakini, and in order 

 to understand more fully just how these are 

 carried out let us look into the case of Mr. 

 John Toomey, one of the keepers in the reptile 

 house at the New York Zoological Park. 



On the morning of January 27, 1916, Mr. 

 Toomey was cleaning a cage in which was 

 kept a powerful example of Crotalus atrox, 

 the Texas rattlesnake. Without the slight- 

 est warning, as quick as a flash, this five-and- 

 a-half-foot reptile, weighing over ten pounds, 

 lunged its head at the object of its provoca- 

 tion and buried its fangs in Mr. Toomey 's 

 hand. Shouting to his fellow workers to 

 come to his aid and to summon a physician, 

 Mr. Toomey closed the door of the cage. 

 Instantly the head keeper, Mr. Charles 

 Snyder, proceeded to suck the wounds. This 

 quick move on the part of Mr. Snyder had 

 much to do with the saving of the victim's 

 life, as he thus relieved the hand of a consider- 

 able amount of venom. Almost immediately 

 following, two rubber ligatures were applied, 

 one at the wrist and the other on the upper 

 arm, in an effort to prevent the poisoned blood 

 from gaining the circulation of the body. 

 In some instances it is best to scarify the two 

 fang punctures in order to accelerate the flow 

 of poisoned blood and expose a larger surface 

 to the action of the poison oxidizing fluid 

 used in bathing the wound. In other cir- 

 cumstances the physicians may find it inad- 

 visable to enlarge the two fang punctures 

 with a razor or scalpel from fear that gangrene 

 might otherwise set in. While a private 

 practioner of the park was on his way to the 



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