SNAKEWOOD 



SNEEZING 



533 



snake has been recognised as a deadly one, either 

 completely excise, or immediately amputate at the 

 next joint. If the bite be on another part, where 

 a ligature cannot be applied, or, indeed, if it be on 

 the limbs above the toes or fingers, cut the part 

 out at once completely. 



' Let the patient be quiet. Do not fatigue him 

 hy exertion. When, or even before, symptoms of 

 poisoning make their appearance, give the am- 

 moniacal preparation called eau-de-luce, or liquor 

 ammonia;, or carbonate of ammonia, or even better 

 than these, hot spirits and water. There is no occa- 

 sion to intoxicate the person, but give it freely, and 

 at frequent intervals. If he become low apply 

 sinapisms and hot bottles, galvanism or electro-mag- 

 netism over the heart and diaphragm. Cold douches 

 may also l>e useful. If the respiration be failing, 

 artificial Respiration (q.v. ), by the Marshall Hall 

 or Sylvester method, may be employed. 



'The antidotes, in addition, may be used by 

 those who have faith in them ; but, as I have said, 

 I fear there is no reason to believe that they are of 

 any nse. Encourage and cheer the patient as much 

 as possible. As to local effects, if there be great 

 pain, anodynes may be applied or administered, 

 and antiseptic poultices to remove sloughs ; collec- 

 tions of matter must be opened. Other symptoms 

 are to be treated on general surgical principles. 

 This, I believe, is the sum and substance of what 

 we can do in snake bite. If the person be not 

 thoroughly poisoned we may help him to recover. 

 If he lie badly bitten by one of the more deadly 

 snakes we can do no more.' 



Into the debated question of the value of anti- 

 dotes we cannot enter here. Nearly every drug 

 in or out of the Pharmacopeia has been recom- 

 mended ; most reliance has been placed on am- 

 monia, permanganate of notash, arsenic, iodine, 

 bromine, the poison and bile of other snakes, the 

 gnaco plant, ipecacuanha, aristolochia, senega ; but 

 that an experienced authority like Sir Joseph 

 Fayrer has no faith in them is comment enough. 

 Of course it is quite possible, or indeed likely, 

 that some toxic directly antagonistic to snake- 

 poison will in the course of time t>e discovered. 



Uses of Snakes. Some snakes e.g. Ophiophagns 

 eat one another ; many help to keep down the num- 

 bers of small animals, such as rats and mice, whose 

 increase is disadvantageous. Several are used for 

 food ; the poison is sometimes used by native phy- 

 sicians as a medicine ' a promoter of the virtue of 

 other drugs, an anti-spasmodic, a digestive, a 

 stimulant,' &c. ; it is also used to increase the 

 deadliness of weapons. The oil extracted from the 

 abundant fat of many snakes is said to be very 

 useful for external application, and there is hardly 

 a part of the l>ody from which it has not been 

 employed in superstitious therapeutics. 



See ANACONDA, BOA, COBRA, PYTHON, RATTLESNAKE, 

 VIPER, &C. ; Hoffmann's ' Reptilia ' in Bronn's Thierreich 

 ( Leip. and Heidelberg, 1859 et teq. ) ; Diimeril and 

 Bibron, Erpftolotiie Gtnfrale (9 vols. Paris, 1834-54); 

 Gunther, Reptiles of Britiih India. (Lend. 1861); Elan- 

 ford, Fauna, of Britiih India ( 1891 ) ; Fayrer, Thanato- 

 phiilia of India (1874); Bell, British Reptilet (1839) ; 

 Boulenger and others, Catalogue of the Snakes in the 

 Britith Museum (3 vols., 1882-96); Jan and Sordello, 

 Iconoffraphic del Ophidieni ( Paris, 1860-80 ); Baird and 

 Girard, Catalogue of North American Reptiles in the 

 Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, part i. Serpents 

 (Washington, 1853); Krefft, The Snakes of Australia 

 (Sydney, 18K9). A popular book with much interesting 

 information is C. C. Hopley's Snakes (New York, 1882). 



Bnakewood. See BREAD-NUT. 



Snapdragon (Antirrhinum), a genus of plants 

 of the naturaForder Scrophulariaceae, consisting of 

 annual and perennial herbaceous plants, chiefly 

 natives of the temperate parts of the northern 



hemisphere. They have the calyx five-parted ; the 

 corolla swollen at the base, hut without a spur, 

 and personate (Lat. persona, 'a mask') i.e. its 

 mouth closed hy the pressure 

 of the lower against the upper 

 lip ; and the fruit is a two- 

 celled oblique capsule, opening 

 by three pores at the apex. 

 The English name refers to a 

 peculiarity of the corolla, the 

 lower lip of which, if forcibly 

 parted from the upper so as to 

 open the mouth, shuts with 

 an elastic spring or snap. 

 Some of the species have very 

 pretty flowers. A. majus has 

 long been a favourite in British 

 gardens, in which there are 

 many fine varieties of it. The 

 whole plant is bitter. An oil 

 is extracted in Persia from the 

 very abundant seeds, by heat- 

 ing and then submitting them 

 to pressure. Snapdragon is 

 also the name for a Christmas 

 pastime in which raisins are 

 snatched out of a dish in which 

 brandy is burning, in a room 

 otherwise dark. 



Snaphaunce, a term 

 originally applied to the 

 spnng-lock of a gun or pistol, 

 but afterwards applied to the 

 gun itself, a Dutch firelock of 

 the 17th century. See FIRE- 

 ARMS. 



Slieek, a town in the Snapdragon (Antir- 

 Netherlands, province Fries- rhinum majus). 

 land, 13 miles SW. of Leeu- 

 warden, with an active trade in agricultural pro- 

 duce, especially in butter and cheese. Pop. 11,465. 



Sneezing consists in a sudden violent expira- 

 tion, preceded by one or more inspirations. During 

 the expiration the fauces are generally closed so 

 as to direct the current of air through the nose. 

 Sneezing is most frequently produced by the presence 

 of irritating substances in the nose, and indeed its 

 purpose seems to be mainly to expel these from the 

 nasal cavities. Irritants stimulate the terminal 

 branches of the fifth nerve which are distributed 

 over the nasal mucous membrane, and the stimulus 

 conveyed to the ' respiratory centre ' in the medulla 

 leads to the respiratory efforts described. Sneezing 

 is therefore a 'reflex act,' and as such is beyond 

 the control of the will. It may, however, sometimes 

 be prevented by the application of a strong stimulus 

 to the nasal nerve, such as by compressing it at its 

 exit from the nose, and it may also be prevented 

 sometimes if a bet be made that it will talce place. 

 Sneezing may also be induced by irritation of other 

 nerves than the nasal : thus, by gazing at a very 

 bright light the strong stimulation of the optic 

 nerves will sometimes bring on a sneeze. Sneezing 

 not only rids the nasal cavity of foreign substances, 

 but acts in a special way upon the general and 

 especially the cerebral circulation. For the respira- 

 tory centre in the medulla is in close proximity to 

 the vaso-motor centre, and the stimulus which leads 

 to the sneeze produces at the same time increased 

 activity of the vaso-motor centre, whereby the pulse 

 is quickened, the blood-pressure rises, and the 

 blood-vessels of the brain are dilated. Hence sneez- 

 ing exerts a stimulant effect on the brain. Sub- 

 stances employed to induce sneezing are termed 

 'sternutatories' or 'errhines,' the principal ones 

 being snuff, ipecacuanha, and enphorbium. 



Paroxysmal sneezing is an expression of a special 



