RATTLE SNAKES 



393 



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Photograph by Will C. Barnes. 



HIS PROTEST WAS HIS HIS UNDOING 



When his warning rattle was sounded, a piece of rope caught 

 the noisy gentleman. 



few days the man was apparently fully recovered. Every 

 year, however, for twelve succeeding years, on the date 

 of the original bite, the pains returned, a sore formed, 

 the sore would burst and the nail of the finger invari- 

 ably came off. This process usually took about two 

 weeks from beginning to end. 



Finally he learned of a Brazilian snake cure, an herb 

 or vine "Micania Guacho," the leaves and stem of which 

 when made into an infusion and taken internally just 

 before the annual visitation caused a cessation of the 

 sore finger and the loss of the nail but up to last ac- 

 counts obtainable the pains still continued on each anni- 

 versary but not for so long, nor were they as intense. 



An equally interesting case is that of a Mexican boy 

 in Phoenix, Arizona, named Teodoro Ruiz. My first 

 knowledge of this case was in November, 191 1, when 

 the boy, then about twelve years of age, was found 

 wandering alone on the desert, a few miles from the 

 city, ty a passing driver who, unable to get the lad to talk 

 and realizing something was wrong, took him in his 

 buggy and left him at the Sherifif's office when he reached 

 Phoenix. Attaches of the office knew him well as he had 

 been brought to them before. 



Briefly, the boy had been bitten by a rattler about 

 four years previous, from the effects of which he lost 

 completely the power of speech. Before the accident 

 he was a perfectly normal child in every way. Each 

 year, however, since the day he was bitten, as the date 

 nears on which he received the rattler's venom into his 

 system, his whole demeanor changes, he becomes restless 

 and unless carefully watched leaves his father's home and 

 alone and on foot takes to the desert where he wanders 

 aimlessly about picking up and playing with bugs, toads, 



lizards and any such thing he sees. Unfortunately no 

 one has ever followed the boy to note whether or not he 

 finds and handles snakes while in this condition. 



Generally his distracted parents rescued him from the 

 desert or some one finding him there brought him back to 

 them for his story was known to every one. 



He seldom offered any objection to such action on 

 their part the wanderlust evidently being soon satisfied. 



Always there are questions as to the fangs of rattlers. 

 Briefly, they are sharp as needles and hollow, the poison 

 being ejected from the sac behind or at the base of each 

 and through this thread-like opening that runs down the 

 center of the fang. 



Photograph by J. F. Street. 



THE RATTLER'S FANGS 



The fangs are as sharp as needles and hollow, the poison being 

 ejected from the sac behind or just at the base of each, and 

 through this thread-like opening that runs down the center of 

 the fang. 



In repose the two foremost fangs lie close to the jaws 

 encased in a fleshy covering or sheath. Under excite- 

 ment they emerge from this sheath and quickly rise to 

 the upright position in which they are always pictured. 

 If a main fang is artificially removed or accidentally 

 broken the next one gradually moves forward and takes 

 its place. 



Dr. Weir Mitchell who spent many years of his most 

 industrious and valuable life studying snakes and espec- 

 ially rattlers, in discussing this matter says there are 

 {Cont'd on Page 396) 



