hj' Snakes in India . ig^ 



tluit the ftimulating effect of the volatile fpirlt would have 

 been fo much blunted by it, as to have become inefficacious: 

 a fecond dofe was immediately adminiftered, and fome time 

 after, a third. The man recovered in the courfe of a few 

 hours. As oil is frequently adminiftered as a remedy in the 

 bite of fnakes, I think it necefTary to caution againft the 

 ufe of it with the volatile alkali, as it blunts the ftimulating 

 quality of the fpirit, and renders it ufelefs. 



Of the numerous fpecies of fnakes which I have met with, 

 not above fix were provided with poifonous fangs ; though 

 I have examined many which have been confidered by the 

 natives as dangerous, without being able to difcover any 

 thing noxious in them. 



The following is an inftance of the deleterious effeft of the 

 bite of a fnake, called by the natives Kralt, a fpecies of the 

 Boa, which I have frequently met with in this part of the 

 country : — 



VII. On the i6th September 1788 a man was brought 

 to me who had been bitten bv a fnake, with the marks of 

 two fangs on two of his toes; he was faid to have been bit- 

 ten above an hour before I faw him : he was perfeftly fenfi- 

 ble, but complained of great pain in the parts, bitten, with 

 an unufual languor. I immediately gave him thirty drops 

 of the volatile cauftic alkali fpirit in water, and applied fome 

 of it to the wounds. In a few minutes ' he became eafier, 

 and in about half an hour was carried away by his friends, 

 with perfeft confidence in his recovery, without having taken 

 a fecond dofe of the medicine, which indeed did not appear 

 to have been nccefifary ; but whether from the effect of the 

 bite of the fnake, or the motion of the dooly on which he 

 was carried, I know not; but he became fick at the fto- 

 mach, threw up the medicine, and died in about a quarter 

 of an hour after. The man find that the fnake came up to 

 him while he was fitting on the ground ; and that he put 

 him away with' his hand once, but that he turned about and 

 bit him, as defcribcd. The fnake was brought to me, whicii 

 i 1 oca- 



