114 poisoisrous snakes and snake poisons. 



power of snake poison to Icill, for instance a strong 

 enough solution of potassa or soda, or codine or per- 

 chloride of iron, bromohydric acid has the same capacity, 

 but by far the best of all is permanganate of potash. 

 Tioo circumstances, however, maTce such welcome remedy 

 useless, as the bites usually occur when man is far from 

 help, and when one has neither the remedy nor the in- 

 struments to apply it. All such remedies are too often 

 futile. Moreover, even if the remedy and a skillful as- 

 sistant could be at hand, the poison has begun to travel 

 through the body at a much quicker rate and is beyond 

 reach when the injection is made. Then let us consider 

 that all those recommended chemicals indeed destroy 

 the poison, hut at the same time the tissues, and where 

 is the gain then ? Such agents are worse than valueless. 



Recently alcohol in great quantities, externally and 

 internally, has heen recommended hy physicians as 

 well as laymen, and even many savage tribes con- 

 sider themselves safe when they, having been bitten, 

 have enough brandy at their disposal. They drink as 

 much of it as they can, become utterly intoxicated, fall 

 asleep, and wJien they wake up again after a num- 

 ber of hours, feel no more unfavorable consequences. 

 Drunken people have sometimes been bitten by a poison- 

 ous snake without encountering any harm, though oth- 

 ers under like circumstances have died. To explain this 

 we must remember that alcohol does really not serine as 

 an antidote, that it does not destroy nor act directly on 

 the snake poison, hut it stimulates the activity of the 

 neries, which have been weakened and are usually on 

 the point of stopping work entirely. Therefore alcohol is 

 so much the more to be recommended as it can generally 

 be had in every village. On the other side we must be 

 mindful that many men have been killed by the alcohol 

 given to relieve them from the effects of the snake bite. 



For the effects on the hlood and on the nerve centres 



70 



