944 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX. 



Drugs, such as Ammonia, Strychnia, and Alcohol, are not likely 

 to do any good, but on the contrary harm. They all act on the 

 central nervous system, and to administer them is like adding oil 

 to flame, as they can only accentuate the paralysing effects of the 

 snake venom. In addition Calmette has shown that Alcohol by 

 neutralising any antitoxin that the subject may be forming in his 

 own person, in response to the toxic absorption, acts in opposition 

 to nature's attempts to subdue the toxic process. 



It is extremely dubious if ligature, the orthodox measure recom- 

 mended in every text book, is of the slightest avail, in this or any 

 other snake poisoning process.* 



Finally, artificial respiration is quite useless in this form of 

 ophitoxaemia as shown by Lamb and Rogers as the heart shares in 

 the general embarrassment, and tends to fail unlike what occurs in 

 cobra and cceruleus poisoning. 



The only method, which appears to afford a rational means of 

 success, is the application of permanganate of potash locally. This 

 salt is known to completely destroy the toxicity of all snake venoms. 

 In practice, however, its merits have not met with the success one 

 would expect. It must be remembered that the poison on absorp- 

 tion becomes intimately connected with the tissues at the bitten 

 part, and whether this locking-up is merely a mechanical or a 

 chemical process, it is extremely difficult to dissociate the venom 

 from the tissues so as to allow the permanganate to come into 

 antagonistic relationship with, and destroy it. The success of the 

 treatment, therefore, must depend upon the degree to which the 

 tissues are cut into, and the extent of surface opened up, into 

 which permanganate can be introduced. 



The surgeon should excise the bitten parts freely and dissect 

 up all tissues, that show where poison has been absorbed, and then 

 introduce permanganate crystals, and moisten them with water. 

 If the non-professional man uses the knife at all he should cut a 

 series of parallel incisions (as he would operate on a ham) close 

 together, deeply and freely in the length of the limb, or member, 

 and then introduce permanganate. As free use of the knife to a 



* See Trans. Bombay Medl. Congress 1909, p. 249. 



