THE 



POISONOUS SNAKES OF INDIA. 



SYMPTOMS AND TEEATMENT OF SNAKE POISONING. 



Local. — When a person is effectively bitten by a poisonous snake, lie 

 feels a stinging sensation in the part penetrated. This is soon followed 

 by pain, at first of a dull, aching, and subsequently, of a lancinating and 

 piercing, character. The ultimate and rather rapid effect is numbness ter- 

 minating in local paralysis of sensation. There may also be slight swelling. 

 In poisoning by the cobra, daboia, and other terrestrial snakes, there will 

 usually be found the marks or points, sometimes indicated by a small 

 film of clotted blood, where the two fangs have entered half an inch or 

 more apart. Or, as in the case of a finger being bitten, there may only 

 be one point of penetration, the other fang having, missed altogether. 

 At a later period the part assumes a leaden or livid hue, due in great 

 part to the effusion of blood beneath the skin (ecchymosis). When 

 the bite has been inflicted by a salt-water snake, the fang-marks are 

 more difficult to distinguish ; because the fangs are not much larger 

 than the fish-like teeth situated immediately behind them. There may, 

 further, be marks or scratches of some of the teeth as well as of the fangs. 

 As the poison gains access to the blood, the general symptoms affecting 

 the whole nervous organisation soon divert attention from, and eclipse, 

 the local indications. Unless the ligature has been applied at once or 

 very soon after an effective bite these very soon make their appearance. 



General. — Very soon after an effective bite, where the ligature has 

 been delayed or not applied at all, the poison is absorbed into the blood, 

 and makes its presence felt upon the great nerve-centres of the cord and 

 medulla. The patient is extremely restless and excited. His alarm 

 amounts to horror, intensified by a deeply-rooted conviction of the utter 

 hopelessness of his case, As. the first signs of nervous depression, languor 



B 



