186 



POPULAR SCIElSrCE l^TEWS. 



[Decembee, 1888. 



[Original in The Popular Science J^ewa.] 

 TKEATMENT OF SNAKE-BITE. 



BY C A. MAYO, PH.G. 



In the south-eastern corner of the ground floor 

 of the National Museum at Washington is a small 

 white door bearing the legend, " No admittance." 

 Disregarding this admonition, and passing through 

 the doorway, we found a winding stairway of stone 

 leading downward between whitewashed walls, — 

 cool and dark after the glare of the bright sunshine 

 out of doors. 



Going down the steps into the darkness almost 

 as of night, a faint musky odor grew perceptible, 

 and we almost fell over a figure crouching before a 

 wall case in the darkness at foot of the stairs. 

 The figure, rising, directed us toward a faint ray of 

 light which had "lost its way, and through the 

 crevice and the cleft of the dark wall was fallen 

 and left." 



As we approached the light, a curious, monoto- 

 nous buzzing in a high key became audible. The 

 sound was familiar, but I could not recall under 

 what circumstances I had last heard it, though it 

 produced a vague sense of discomfort. Entering a 

 low, arched doorway, the sound grew much sharper 

 and louder; and then it flashed across me that it 

 was the warning of the " rattler." 



The daylight, streaming downward from a sky- 

 light, fell directly upon a table at which was 

 seated a man busily engaged in writing. On hear- 

 ing a footfall he looked up, turning toward us a 

 pale, smooth-shaven, serious face, with high, prom- 

 inent forehead, and deep, searching eyes. This 

 was E. B. Rheem, the assistant to the curator of 

 the department of reptiles of the National Mu- 

 seum. 



The walls of the small room were hidden by 

 shelving, as were also those of the dark hallways 

 through which we had passed. This shelving was 

 filled with jars containing all manner of batrachi- 

 ans pickled in alcohol, — Lizards, snakes, frogs, 

 centipeds, all sorts of slimy things that creep. 

 Even the floor was covered with these jars, save 

 such space as was necessary to pass to and fro. 



Dr. Yarrow, the curator, was absent ; but his cour- 

 teous assistant, on learning that we were interested 

 in " snake-bites," walked across the room, and threw 

 back the green baize cover of a tall wooden box. 

 The sharp buzzing which we had heard on coming 

 in was suddenly renewed with increased intensity, 

 and, looking into the box, we saw some three or four 

 rusty-looking rattlesnakes, which, with heads erect, 

 and forked tongues protruding, angrily resented 

 our intrusion. 



The curious horny formation upon the end of 

 their tails was being violently agitated all the while, 

 giving forth their peculiar warning. Very little 

 play of the tail is required to enable them to sound 

 this rattle. After being assured of their inability 

 to escape, we placed one end of a cane upon the 

 tail of one of the most wicked-looking fellows, pin- 

 ning it to the ground. When two inches from the 

 rattle, no effect was noticeable; when one and a 

 half inches, the buzz was slightly less noisy; at 

 half an inch it was perceptibly lower, though 

 some rattling continued as long as any portion of 

 the tail was free. 



Turning to the jars, Mr. Rheem took off the 

 cover of one, and with his cane raised a broad, scaly 

 head out of the alcohol, saying, " This is a fine 

 specimen of the Southern rattlesnake, Crolalus ada- 

 manteus. You will notice that they grow much larger 

 than their Northern cousins, Crolalus horridus. 

 Those in the box are the horridus." Then, taking 

 a stick on the end of which was a leathern loop, he 

 showed how the head of the snake was caught in 

 this loop, and thus held while a piece of absorbent 



cotton on the end of a stick was presented, and the 

 snake irritated until he struck. The cotton ab- 

 sorbed the venom, which was removed by washing 

 the cotton in chemically pure glycerine. This 

 glycerine solution had a slightly greenish tinge, but 

 had nothing about it to indicate the deadly char- 

 acter of the liquid, which consisted of eight drams 

 of glycerine and one dram of the venom. A large 

 rattler weighing three or four pounds will yield 

 about fifteen drops of venom if he has not struck 

 for some time previous; if, however, he is fre- 

 quently worried into striking, the amount yielded 

 correspondingly decreases. 



A popular belief, that, if kept from water, snakes 

 are not poisonous, appears to have some slight 

 foundation, for experiments made with these snakes 

 show, that, if kept without water for a week or two, 

 the quantity of venom secreted was much smaller 

 than when they had free access to water, and was 

 also darker in color. 



Although these snakes had been captive for sev- 

 eral months, and had been offered all kinds of 

 delicacies which are supposed to appeal to the rep- 

 tilian appetite, they had never eaten any thing 

 whatever. The results of this long fast were some- 

 what noticeable on one or two, whose skins were 

 wrinkled and shrivelled as though too large for 

 their bodies. When first captured they would 

 strike viciously at any thing which was offered; 

 but by familiarity with the noose they had become 

 very difficult to ensnare, and when caught would 

 require considerable irritation before striking; 

 one, in fact, having become quite tame, so that it 

 could be handled with impunity. 



Dr. Yarrow has observed a fact not hitherto 

 made note of; namely, that, in striking, the snake 

 does not invariably use both fangs, appearing to 

 have the power of volition in their use. 



Attached to the museum is a kind of a hospital 

 tenanted by various unhappy fowls, rabbits, etc., 

 whose sad destiny it is to be immolated on the altar 

 of science in the hope of discovering some antidote 

 to the poison. One scarred old hen, the veteran of 

 half a dozen experiments, has become so thoroughly 

 inoculated from the experiments performed on her 

 by injection of minute quantities of the venom, 

 that she is able to successfully resist an injection 

 which would be sure death to a new subject. 



In carrying out a very extensive series of exper- 

 iments which have just been concluded. Dr. Yar- 

 row would first try an antidote on the subject, to 

 ascertain if it alone had any deleterious effect. 

 Having decided this, he ascertained by experiment 

 the quantity of venom necessary to cause death in 

 the particular animal to be experimented on, as a 

 rabbit, a pigeon, or a hen. He would then inject 

 a lethal dose of the venom into the tissue of the 

 animal, and follow this by an injection of the 

 particular antidote under consideration. Copious 

 notes were then taken of the results. All possible 

 precautions Were taken to render the observations 

 reliable, and all the various antidotes which have 

 been proposed from time to time were thoroughly 

 tested. Solutions of potassa and of potassium per- 

 manganate, whiskey, ammonia, tincture of euphor- 

 bia maculata, fluid extract of jaborandi, and even 

 a '• madstone," were experimented with. Avery 

 interesting series of experiments showed that the 

 venom of the rattlesnake had no effect either on 

 his own species, on the garter-snake, or on lizards. 



Dr. Yarrow also investigated the reports of deaths 

 from the bites of the Gila monster {Heloderma 

 suspeclum) , and found some difficulty in obtaining 

 any authentic case of death having occurred from 

 the bite of this lizard, except where there were 

 other complications which might have been a con- 

 tributing cause. His own experiments showed, 

 that, while its bite was poisonous, it was scarcely 



probable that it would prove fatal, save under very 

 unfavorable conditions. 



From time to time since the publication of 

 a book called Osservazione Intorno alle Vipera, 

 by Francesco Redi, at Florence, in 1664, various 

 scientific men have studied and written on the 

 subject; and after digesting their writings, and 

 experimenting on the very extensive scale indi- 

 cated. Dr. Yarrow formulates the following as the 

 best method of procedure on the part of a person 

 who has been bitten by one of the poisonous rep- 

 tiles of North America : — 



Keep cool ; retain your presence of mind. If 

 the bite is upon an arm or leg, wrap a broad ban- 

 dage of some unyielding texture tightly around the 

 limb between the bite and the heart, commencing 

 nearest the heart, about six inches from the bite, 

 and wrapping toward the wound. A piece of 

 shirt torn and doubled, a leather thong, several 

 handkerchiefs knotted together, an inelastic sus- 

 pender, a rope of grass, a tough piece of bark slit 

 from a young tree, or almost any thing which can 

 be converted into the semblance of a bandage, will 

 answer. Fasten the bandage securely, and make 

 several cross-cuts through the wounds inflicted by 

 the snake's fangs, taking care to avoid cutting the 

 veins, which will be plainly seen, being swollen 

 and distended with the venom blood. Stroke the 

 limb gently, up and down, below the bandage, to 

 promote bleeding from the wounds. Burn some 

 whiskey or paper in a wide-mouthed bottle, to expel 

 the air, and immediately apply the mouth to the 

 wound, when it will act as a cupping-glass. Bet- 

 ter than this, however, suck the wound yourself, 

 or get some friend with a sound mouth to do it for 

 you. If the pulse weakens, take whiskey in mod- 

 erate quantities. Loosen the bandage, and replace 

 it from time to time, as, if allowed to remain too 

 long, gangrene would result. If possible, cupping- 

 glasses should be apphed, followed by injecting into 

 the wound a twenty per cent solution of potassium 

 permanganate with a hypodermic syringe. The 

 solution should be retained in the wound by com- 

 pressing with the finger, and the flesh should be 

 kneaded in order to distribute the solution. Repeat 

 this if necessary. Take twenty minims of fluid 

 extract of jaborandi, and repeat the dose unless 

 copious perspiration follows. If the heart weakens 

 rapidly, take fifteen drops of tincture of digitalis 

 every two hours, or inhale a few drops of nitrite of 

 amyl. Should all efforts prove unavailing, artificial 

 respiration may be resorted to. Should no one be 

 found courageous enough to suck the wound, and 

 should no means of cupping be at hand, a chicken 

 may be split open and applied while warm, or, as 

 in India, the anus of a live chicken may be applied, 

 a number of them being used. 



The advantage of the use of alcoholic drinks 

 lies only in their stimulating effect upon the failing 

 circulation; and Dr. Yarrow thinks it entirely 

 unnecessary for the patient to get drunk, thus 

 ruthlessly shattering a most widely accepted and 

 fascinating theory as to the proper course of treat- 

 ment. 



[Original In The Popular Science News.] 



TEETH AS CONSERVATORS OF NERVE 

 FORCE. 



BY M. J. GASTON. 



All force must be sustained and fed ; and as 

 Helmholtz has brought the calculations of force 

 that has to be supplied for nervous exertion within 

 our comprehension, and demonstrates liow that 

 force must be sustained, we find that such force 

 can only be sustained by food. The work of the 

 mind is nervous action, and is produced by exertion 

 or waste force. Every thought is nervous exertion ; 



