274: Mr. F. W. FItz-Simon? on the Toxic Action 



improvement began to manifest itself, and from tliis time on- 

 waid his condition rapidly improved, and in three weeks he 

 was discharged from the hospital still in a weak, debilitated 

 state, and although he gradually regained strength, he had 

 rt lapses of slight bleeding from tiie mucous membranes of 

 tlie mouth, and one eye was occasionally affected : and even 

 three months after the accident, slight discoloration in the 

 tissues surrounding one of his eyes showed itself for a few 

 days. Apart from this, he has otherwise entirely recovered 

 his health and strength, thanks to the skilful treatment in 

 the first instance by Dr. Bruce, followed by the effective 

 treatment whilst in hospital under the care of Drs. Pottinger 

 and Wallace. 



Some years ago a local gentleman was bitten by a Boom- 

 slang snake and died a few days later, but the general belief 

 was, and is, that he died of blood-poisoning consequent upon 

 pricking and irritating the wound with some foreign sub- 

 stance. A well-known gentleman, who saw him shortly after 

 being bitten, says : — " I questioned him as to whether he had 

 experienced any effects from the bite, and he certainly gave 

 me to understand that he had not, and attributed the whole 

 trouble to the rash use of a needle, and making too deep a 

 puncture with it. He told me that he felt quite well as far 

 as his health was concerned, and I was surprised to hear a 

 ^^w days afterwards that his death was attributed to the bite 

 of the Boomslang; I had always been under the impression it 

 was a case of ordinary blood-poisoning." 



I have made very caretul enquiry into this case, and it 

 seems the gentleman at first showed no very apparent signs of 

 constitutional disturbance, but subsequently symptoms set in 

 very similar to those exhibited by Williams, viz. oozing of 

 blood from the gums and extravasation of blood into the 

 tissues on various parts of the body, then death. This would 

 seem to indicate that in this case there was a smaller dose of 

 venom discharged into the wounds than was the case with 

 Williams, which took a longer period to manifest its effects. 



1 closely cross-questioned Williams, and he admitted that 

 within half an hour of being bitten he felt a curious, restless, 

 dizzy, and languid feeling, but refused at the time to admit 

 it, thinking it to be due to some other cause, believing so 

 fully that the Boomslang was perfectly harmless. How- 

 ever, in Williams's case the sj^mptoms were such as to leave 

 no possibility of a doubt that he suffered directly and unmis- 

 takably from some deadly and extremely potent venom, 

 and local medical opinion was unanimous on this latter 

 point. 



