ARTIFICIAL RESPIRATION. 431 



road to recovery, cease to administer stimulants, or give them 

 at longer intervals. 



The scarified site of the bite must be regularly washed with 

 an antiseptic and carefully bandaged, after smothering it with 

 boracic acid. This must on no account be neglected. Do it 

 twice a day. 



During convalescence from snake bite the diet should be 

 very light, such as hot milk taken in small sips, milk puddings, 

 artificial infants' food, rusks soaked in milk, soft ripe fruit, well- 

 cooked rice and milk, etc. Do not give meat or meat soups, 

 or any food containing added fat, or fried foods. The organs of 

 the body at this time must be handicapped as little as possible, 

 for if the venom be that of an Adder or Boomslang there will be 

 more or less extensive haemorrhage. This dead blood will require 

 to be reabsorbed and cast out of the body by the various organs, 

 else mortification and death will occur. 



Many cases have been related to me of remarkable cures 

 having been effected by certain roots, herbs, tinctures, alcohol, 

 etc., but on close investigation it was evident the patient would 

 have recovered just as quickly if nothing had been adminis- 

 tered. When snake venom does not kill, recovery is usually 

 very rapid, and this is invariably attributed to something in the 

 way of an antidote given the patient. No known medicine 

 taken internally is a remedy for snake bite. 



Paralysis of the Respiratory Nerve Centres. 

 What to do ij the breathing should suddenly stop. 



The venom of the Elapinae or sub-family of snakes to which 

 the Cobra belongs acts powerfully upon the nerve-centres, and 

 tends to paralyse their action. Its principal effect is upon the 

 nerve-centres controlling the automatic movements of the lungs 

 and diaphragm. By paralysing these nerve-centres the lungs 

 collapse, breathing ceases, and the patient dies. 



If you are nursing a person suffering from the bite of any 

 one of these snakes, and if you observe the breathing to grow 

 shallow and hurried, carefully watch him. Then, if the breathing 

 should cease altogether, you should instantly resort to artificial 

 respiration methods, and keep them up without a pause for 

 an hour at least, or until a medical man teUs you to desist. 



