A FACT TO BE REMEMBERED. 389 



When venom was injected direct into the veins of animals, 

 death always took place within a few minutes. The animal 

 would often drop dead immediately after the injection. However, 

 if the same quantity was injected into the muscles or under 

 the skin, death- did not usually occur for hours, sometimes days. 



These experiments would seem to show the venom is not all 

 instantly absorbed, as some writers so positively assert. 



The experiments of Doctor Brunton and other eminent men 

 have also demonstrated this to be a fact, for it was found that 

 the animals often recovered if the seat of the injection of venom 

 was scarified and permanganate of potash applied within five 

 and occasionally ten minutes after the injection of the venom. 



A Fact to be Remembered. 



It must be distinctly understood that permanganate of potash 

 is not an antidote. It is of the nature of a " First Aid Treat- 

 ment." It will destroy any venom it actually comes in contact 

 with if rubbed into incisions made over the site of the bite. 

 It is absolutely useless unless applied immediately after the bite. 

 If the snake's fangs happen to penetrate a vein and the venom 

 be discharged therein, the poison is instantly carried into the 

 general circulation, and local applications of permanganate of 

 potash would be valueless. This permanganate salt should 

 always be carried, so as to be available for first-aid treatment. 

 But anti-venomous serum should be in the home of every farmer, 

 so that a cure may be available. The permanganate of potash 

 should not be relied on too much. It is practically useless as a 

 treatment for snake bite in domestic animals, for it is seldom 

 an animal is seen to be bitten. The first indication which causes 

 suspicion of snake bite is local swelling, trembling, and exhaus- 

 tion. If serum be at hand and the animal injected freely with 

 it, its life would be saved, even many hours after the infliction 

 of the bite. Unless, of course, the damage done to the nerve 

 centres and blood is too great to make recovery possible. 



In scarifying the site of the bite the incisions should be made 

 freely, because the venom is injected so forcibly, that it often 

 spreads out under the skin for about half an inch around the 

 site of the fang punctures. Then again, a snake may, when 



