November 4, 1892.] 



SCIENCE. 



255 



catinK, as Daubree has always remarked, that the iron rested on 

 a granitic soil. 



The topographical sketch of the locality made by Dr. Campos 

 shows no indication of concealed dykes of basic rocks, which, 

 according to universal experience of occurrences under similar 

 conditions in Brazil, should, from their more ready decomposition, 

 form depressions on the surface. The principal mass was found 

 at the foot of the hill near a creek on the point of a spur, and 

 aligned with a mass about 200 meters distant at the extreme 

 summit of the hill and vvith an intermediate find close to an ex- 

 posure of granite on the same spur. The other finds are aligned 

 parallel to the course of the creek. In one pit on this line iron 

 was found to a depth of 2.8 meters, covered with wash earth 

 brought down by the rain from the higher portions of the 

 hill. 



Dr. Calogeras, who argues in favor of a terrestrial origin, pre- 

 sents no facts in disaccord with the above observation that the 

 only rock known in the immediate vicinity of the iron is granitic. 

 His argument, based on the occurrence in the region (principally 

 at a distance of several miles) of iron and manganese ores (oxides), 

 and presumed to be connected with dykes of diabase, and of a 

 small percentage of nickel (0.30 per cent) in one of his speci- 

 mens of an argillaceous manganese ore, has no direct bearing on 

 the question of origin. Even if the native iron had been found 

 resting upon the said ore deposits instead of several miles away, 

 a genetic relation would still have to be proven, and until direct 

 evidence was presented most petrologists would probably regard 

 the relation as casual rather than genetic. 



No specimens of the diabase of the vicinity of Sao Francisco 

 have come to hand. Assuming that it is of the usual character 

 of the diabases of similar regions in Brazil, it is not so unlike the 

 basalt, or dolerite, of Ovifak that a comparison might not with 

 propriety be made. It neither approaches nor differs from the 

 iron-bearing Greenland rock more than do the normal diabases of 

 other parts of the world, in which as yet nothing analogous with 

 the Ovifak occurrence has been noted. If the diabase or some 

 related highly basic rock had been found in immediate contact 

 with the iron, a comparison with the Ovifak occurrence would be 

 justified, but even then complete proof of a terrestrial origin 

 would he lacking. As the case stands at present, with tolerably 

 satisfactory evidence that the iron rested on highly acid rocks or 

 their debris, the hypothesis of such an origin involves that of the 

 formation of native iron under conditions entirely different from 

 those of Ovifak. 



Another argument in favor of the meteoric origin of the iron 

 may be drawn from the state of preservation of the masses. 

 Although the metal itself is more than usually resistant to oxidiz- 

 ing agencies and to the action of acids, the abundant presence of 

 pyrite renders it peculiarly susceptible to alteration. All the 

 smaller masses are completely changed to limonite, pieces of the 

 size of a man's head or larger are in large part altered, but still 

 show remnants of metal badly fragmented and oxidized in the 

 centre, and only the larger masses retain perfectly sound metal 

 and sulphide. Even in the dryer air of museums it is not a 

 good-kteping iron, the disintegrating action of the decomposing 

 sulphide being singularly favored by the fragmented condition 

 of the metal. Under these circumstances it is extremely im- 

 probable that, buried in the soil and exposed to the extremely 

 rainy climate of the coast region of southern Brazil, the iron 

 could have been preserved for more than a few centuries at the 

 utmost. The hypothesis of a terrestrial origin involves the ex- 

 posure to destructive agencies through untold geological ages, 

 since the present topographical features of this part of the Bra- 

 zilian coast are unquestionably extremely old. In view of the 

 Ovifak occurrence, it is possible and even probable that native 

 iron of terrestrial origin simulating meteorites will be found in 

 other parts of the world and perhaps in rocks of different petro- 

 graphical types. It is not probable, however, that the first dis- 

 coveries of this character will be made in surface exposures in 

 the extremely humid coast region of southern Brazil, where 

 the country rock is of Archean age, and the eruptives presum- 

 ably date back to the beginning of the Secondary age, if not 

 earlier. 



NEW TREATMENT FOR SNAKE-BITE AND OTHER 

 POISONS. 



BT W. H. WOOSTER, PRBSIDENT OF THE BALLARAT ASTRO PHYSICAD 

 SOCIETY, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA. 



As poisonous snakes are more or less common in many coun- 

 tries, and the circulation of Science is world-wide, and other cases 

 of poisoning often occur, and as I have been the means of saving a 

 life by a new process, one that can be applied when it is too late 

 for the orthodox method of cutting and sucking, and used by 

 anybody, with materials at one's band in every house, I have con- 

 cluded that I should not be doing my duty if I did not make it 

 known. Some time since, when living in the country, one of the 

 nicest little girls of my acquaintance, about four years of age, 

 was brought to me by an elder sister for diagnosis and treatment. 

 She was swelling from head to foot, becoming cold and stiff in the 

 limbs, and losing her power to answer or even understand ques- 

 tions. As I had been the means of effecting several simple cures 

 in the district, she was sent in the hope that I would be able to 

 tell instinctively what was amiss, and to cure it as if by magic. 

 As the sequel proved, the latter was almost realized, notwith- 

 standing that in regard to the former I was quite at sea. She had 

 never known what a snake was, but for strategic purposes, well- 

 known to managers of children, had often been terrified with the 

 name of " bulldog" without knowing what that was (bulldog was 

 the popular name for a very poisonous, pugnacious, and gigantic 

 ant, Myrmecia vindex)\ so that whenever she got stung or bitten 

 by anything, it was put to the credit of the bulldogs, as on this 

 occasion. She had screamed and fallen a few yards from the 

 house, and told her mother a bulldog had bitten her on the foot; 

 and that was all she knew. The foot was examined, but from 

 running barefoot was so full of scratches and punctures that none 

 could be fixed on as certainly the marks of snake-fangs. The 

 mischief had occurred about an hour before I saw her, and while 

 being examined she was getting rapidly worse; the swelling, 

 coldness, and stiffness were becoming alarming, the hps as thick 

 as one's thumb, the hollows on each side of the nose were filled 

 up level, and of a steel blue and sea green color, the arms, lower 

 limbs, and body were becoming blotched with irregular raised 

 parts, white and hard, the spaces between being sunk and dark- 

 purple; the pulse, too, was getting exceedingly feeble. Not 

 thinking a bulldog ant could produce such effects, and not being 

 certain that it was a snake-bite, I concluded that it might be a 

 spider-bite, as my only brother had nearly lost his life fiom that 

 cause. Even if the place of the bite or sting could have been 

 found, it was clearly too late to cut and suck, for the poison was 

 already all over the body, and rapidly mastering the vital func- 

 tions; besides which, no one in the district had an ammonia 

 syringe for hypodermic injection. The question was. What could 

 be done? Precedent said: Send for a doctor. But there was 

 none nearer than eight miles, and then he might not be at home; 

 or, if at home, most likely intoxicated ; and, besides that, she 

 looked as though she would die before a doctor could see her. 



In this conflict of thought and feeling, a happy idea struck me. 

 I had proved in my own person the power of a hydropathic, hot- 

 sweating-pack to produce a flood of perspiration, and throw off 

 impurities from the blood, and it now occurred to me that if I 

 could sweat the poison out from the whole surface, it would not 

 matter where it got in, nor what put it there ; and, moreover, that 

 if it were any good, the danger would be over before anyone could 

 get half-way to the doctor's; and, if twenty minutes or so pro- 

 duced no benefit, the doctor could still be sent for as a last re- 

 source. It was a great responsibility, but under the circumstances 

 I felt it a duty, and went to work. Of course, there was no hot 

 water ready, but we soon made some, and put it into a tub, into 

 which the chitd was placed, with a blanket over all, tucked in 

 close round the neck to keep the steam in, but leaving the head 

 out. This was to open the pores of the skin quickly. While in 

 this I spread a piece of oilcloth on the table, and a pair of blankets 

 on that. As soon as more hot water was ready, a sheet was 

 wrung tightly out of it, and spread on the blankets. The child 

 was laid on this, and then first one side, and then the other lapped 

 over her, and it was tucked in close about the neck ; then the 



