CROTALUS HORRIDUS. 



most suitable remedy ; and this should be continued until the 

 sufferings are relieved, and repeated as often as they are re- 

 newed. 



If the shooting pains are aggravated, and proceed from the 

 wound towards the heart, and if the wound becomes bluish 

 marbled, 01 swollen, with vomiting, vertigo, and fainting, the 

 best medicine is arsenic. It should be administered in a dose 

 of four globules in a teaspoonful of water ; and if, after this 

 has been taken, the sufferings are still aggravated, the dose 

 should be repeated at the end of half an hour; but if, on the- 

 contrary, the state remains the same, it should not be repeat- 

 ed until the end of two or three hours ; if there is an amelio- 

 ration, a new aggravation must be waited for, and the dose 

 ought not to be repeated before its appearance. 



In cases in which arsenic exercises no influence, though 

 repeated several times, recourse must be had to belladonna ; 

 senna has also been known frequently to prove efficacious. 



The poison may also be sucked out. This can do no harm, 

 unless the person who sucks the wound should have a sore 

 on the lips, or in the mouth. It is however well, at any rate, 

 to take a little garlic or salt in the mouth. The sucking must 

 be strong and continuous, and the wound must be drawn 

 well asunder. Whilst sucking, press the hand hard toward 

 the wound over the adjoining parts, particularly from the side 

 next the heart. Immediately after the wcomd has been sucked, 

 rub into it fine salt as long as it will receive any, or gunpow- 

 der, tobacco-ashes, chewing tobacco, wood-ashes, or whatever 

 of this kind is at hand ; salt, however, is the best. At the 

 same time, let the patient keep as quiet as possible ; the more 

 motion, or the greater the agitation, the greater will be the 

 danger. 



It is almost impossible to become familiar with cases of 

 hydrophobia without their suggesting the possible analogy 

 between the poison of such cases and that of snakes ; and in 

 reference to this most important possibility it may be men- 

 tioned, that, some months ago, a man bitten by a mad dog, 

 and ill of hydrophobia, in Italy, was attempted to be cured 

 by the bite of some venomous snake, probably the common 

 viper; and that, according to the newspaper report (for it 

 never appeared in any scientific journal), there was a marked 

 improvement for some time after the bites, although the ter- 

 mination was ultimately fatal; but the symptoms were en- 



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