232 On Diseases and Accidents of Farmers. 



3. Mr. Williams excols the spirit of ammonia in the 

 bites of venemous snakes in the East Indies. The close 

 is from thirty to forty drops every ten minutes in water, 

 until relief be obtained. The medicine is also to be ap- 

 plie to the wound. 



4. So many cases in the United States have occurred 

 of the efficacy of olive oil, in the cure of the bites of ve- 

 nemous snakes, that it can be confidently recommended. 

 It is to be applied to the bitten part, and t.»ken internally 

 without limitation as to dose ; suckin^^ of the wound, and 

 a li^^ature above it, should never be neglected.^ 



Stings of Insects. — The pain from the stings of wasps, 

 bees, and hornets, is quickly relieved by rubbing the part 



* The following article was taken from the Augusta (Georgia) 

 Herald, a few years since. The popular confidence in the effi- 

 cacy of plantain in bites of snakes, has long been great in the 

 United States. It is presumed that the broad-leaved plantain 

 is alluded to. 



" In a late paper we mentioned the death of a person from the 

 bite of a rattle-snake ; in conversing with a very worthy and 

 respectable physician on the subject, he informed us, that for 

 forty years he had been in the habit in such cases, of administer- 

 ing the juice of the green plantain, and he never knew a single 

 instance of its failing to afford relief to persons bitten by snakes : 

 he had given it, he observed, when the sufferer was apparently 

 in the agonies of death, and when considerable force was re- 

 quired to open the mouth, and in every case the relief was al- 

 most instantaneous. The plantain is to be bruised, and the juice 

 pressed out, and that given to the patient as soon as possible 

 after the bite ; but it is never too late to give it while the suf- 

 ferer is alive ; after pressing out the juice, the plantain may 

 be boiled in milk, and also given to the patient. The certainty 

 of this remedy against the bites of snakes, and such venomous 

 reptiles, should induce persons in such situations where those 

 accidents are likely to occur, to cultivate the plantain in their 

 gardens or fields, that a remedy against an accident which may 

 otherwise prove fatal, may at all times conveniently be pro- 

 cured.'* 



