viii APPENDIX. 



suction, on the ground of the risk to the operator, but surely 

 the risk is not so very great, the poison thus extracted from the 

 wound being largely mixed with blood and saliva and not retain- 

 ed in the mouth for anyiime, but quickly spat out. I should have 

 no hesitation myself in sucking a wound inflicted by either a 

 snake or mad dog, though the presence of any ulcer or wound in 

 the mouth would doubtless add to the chance of untoward symp- 

 toms, resulting. I cannot resist here extracting the philosophic 

 remarks of Dr. Fayrer on the prevalent mode of worrying to 

 death" the unfortunate victim of snake-bite. " But another 

 popular mode of treatment of the so called lethargy induced 

 by the poison, that by walking the person violently about and 

 keeping him awake by flogging, pinching and other such violent 

 measures is in my opinion of very doubtful efficacy, if not 

 altogether wrong. The man who is dying from snake hite is 

 perishing from rapid exhaustion of nerve force. To make him 

 take violent exercise and deprive him of rest seems to me more 

 likely to do harm than good. It would be almost as reasonable 

 to give a man a blow on the head to recover him from concussion 

 of the brain, or to give him antimony to cure him of seasick- 

 ness. Let him lie down. Leave him to rest, to sleep if he can." 

 Speaking of chemical antidotes Dr. Fayrer thus expresses 

 himself: " I have no hesitation in saying that I believe them to 

 be useless and that excepting for their stimulant action when 

 they have any, they are inert. When the symptoms of poisoning 

 have set in, either when the ligature and excision or caustic or 

 cautery have failed, or when they have not been used, I believe 

 that the only rational treatment is to endeavour to rouse the sink- 

 ing energies and arrest the tendency to fatal paralysis of the nerve 

 force, by the aid of alcohol or other stimulants such as ammo- 

 nia or ether judiciously administered, avoiding anything that can 

 depress, such as over exertion or fatigue, especially that produced 

 by the popular practice of making the sufferer walk when his 

 force is almost expended. Brandy or whisky or indeed any 

 form of alcohol should be given freely and frequently though 

 not in the large quantities sometimes recommended. 



