586 POLSONma. 



TREATMENT.— In his book, "Diseases of the Horse," Mr. 

 Hutcheon, M.R.C.V.S., makes the following remarks on snake- 

 bite : — 



" I have had very little experience of the treatment of snake- 

 bite in animals, but in the early part of 1892, I had an oppor- 

 tunity of trying the treatment of snake-bite by strychnine, dis- 

 covered and successfully used by Dr. A. Mueller, of Tachan- 

 dandah, Victoria, Australia. The Doctor writes — vide Agricul- 

 tural Journal, March 24th, 1892 — as follows: — '{a) I am using 

 a solution of nitrate of strychnine of 1 in 240 of water with a 

 little glycerine. (Jd) 20 minims of this are injected in the usual 

 manner by a hypodermic injection, (c) The frequency of repe- 

 tition depends on the symptoms being more or less threatening, 

 say from ten to twenty minutes. When all have disappeared 

 and the strychnine shows its first independent action by slight 

 muscular spasms, the injections must, as a matter of course, be 

 discontinued, unless after a while the poison again reasserts it- 

 self. The quantity of strychnine required in some cases has 

 amounted to a grain or more within a few hours. Both poisons 

 are thoroughly antagonistic, and no hesitation need be felt in 

 pushing on the use of the drug to quantities that would be fatal 

 in the absence of snake-poison. Out of about 100 cases treated 

 after my method, some of them at the point of death, there has 

 been but one failure, and this arose from the injections being 

 discontinued after IJ grains had been injected, (d) Any part 

 of the body will of course do for the injection, though I am in 

 the habit of making them in the neighbourhood of the bitten 

 part, or on it,' 



"The case which I refer to was a horse which was bitten on 

 the muscular portion of the right cheek, the whole of that side 

 of his face and lips were intensely swollen and the swelling very 

 soon extended to the throat, seriously affecting his breathing. 

 I had no solution of strychnine and was, therefore, unable to 

 inject it under the skin, but I administered doses of six grains 

 of strychnine by the mouth, simply placing it well back on his 

 tongue; the nervous prostration and the local swelling made it 

 impossible to pour anything down his throat. I repeated the 

 six grains of strychnine at intervals of half an hour, until I had 

 given him sixty grains, after which slight muscular twitchings 

 appeared and he gradually recovered. In addition to the ad^ 

 ministration of the strychnine, I cut an incision in the large 

 cheek muscle, and locally injected a solution of carbonate of 

 ammonia in spirit, being the only thing that I had. I am de- 

 cidedly of opinion that the recovery was due to the strychnine. 

 The dose is about five times as much as the horse would have 



