ON COMMON INDIAN SNAKES. 08 



In a nervous subject, such as the native frequently is, a bite even from 

 this harmless wolf-snake may prove fatal. Thus Dr. Willey* record- 

 a case in Ceylon of a woman who was bitten on the right forearm 

 by a snake of this species one night, and who died in consequence, 

 no doubt from fright. 



In the Indian Medical Gazette of November 1st, 1870, Dr. Ewart 

 reports the following case: — 



" This morning, August 22nd, on visiting the General Hospital, 

 I was informed that one of the punkah-coolies had been bitten, 

 about 8-30 the night before, by a krait, whose venom is virulently 

 poisonous. The man, it appears, had been sleeping, and on awaking 

 he found something crawling over the right shoulder, and immediately 

 experienced a stinging sensation about the middle of the acromion 

 process. He was then under the impression that he had been bitten 

 by a snake, and on procuring a light, a very lively snake was 

 captured. 



" The site of the bite was examined by Mr. Knight, the Assistant 

 Apothecary, who declares he discovered a small puncture, on which 

 there was a small quantity of coagulated blood. He is also positive 

 that the tissues around, to the size of a two-anna piece, were puffed 

 and swollen. Patient's pulse was irregular, and he was much alarmed 

 and agitated ; the surface of the body was cold ; countenance anxious ; 

 pupils normal ; quite conscious and intelligent ; no dimness of vision, 

 or vertigo. 



"About four minutes after the man had been bitten, the pari was 

 freely scarified, and the cupping glass applied. Ammonia was given 

 repeatedly at short intervals. Rum was also freely administered, and 

 means were taken to prevent sleep. 



" When the patient was presented to (us) as a specimen of snake-bite 

 cured by cupping, ammonia, and rum, I expressed my doubts, after 

 an examination of the seat of scarification, whether he had been bitten 

 at all ; and if he bad been bitten, whether the snake was poisonous. 



" I submitted the snake to Dr. Fayrer, C.S.L, who pronounced it to- 

 be the ' Lycodon aulicus ' perfectly innocent. It is something like 

 the Krait (Bungarvs cceruleus), and often gets blamed accordingly. " 



It is in such a case as this that the stimulating remedies which have 



* Spolia Zeylan. 10C6, p. 228. 



