BY T. L. BANCROFT, M.B., EDIN. 



31 



to exhaust the nerve sooner than if the paralysing substance 

 were acting alone. An antidote to snake venom should be such 

 a substance as could decompose the venom or combine in some 

 way with it to make it insoluble. No substance, in our present 

 state of knowledge, can do such a thing, without at the same 

 time killing the organism. Alcohol has no value further than 

 to blunt the finer sensations, and bring about a feeling of well- 

 being; a small amount is sufficient for this purpose. The 

 supposed stimulating properties of alcohol are mythical, as are 

 also those of ammonia. Permanganate of potash is only useful 

 when it comes in contact with the venom itself, that is, by being 

 injected into the wound immediately after being bitten. Theo- 

 retically the Digitalis group are the only drugs that could be of 

 any use in snake poisoning. By their action upon the muscular 

 substance of the heart they increase blood-tension, and may 

 .avert, to some extent, the low blood pressure caused by the 

 paralysing effect of snake venom upon the vaso-motor centre. 

 Strophanthus, in the form of tincture, would be perhaps the most 

 convenient one of the group to make use of. But by far the 

 best treatment known is to cut through the true skin over the 

 bite, and suck the poison out ; if this be done either by himself 

 or by his friend directly one is bitten, there is little to fear, at 

 any rate, in Australia. 



An easy way to tell venomous from harmless snakes is by 

 the number of scales between the eye and nostril ; in venomous 

 the eye scale joins the nostril scale, whilst in harmless snakes 

 there is an intervening or loreal scale. 



