TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES. 139 



cies of serpents increase and can 

 inflict much harm. And that they 

 were not on the decrease, a large 

 ranch near the coast had proven 

 some years ago by its pubUshed 

 statistics. The jungles of cacti 

 and Spanish dagger plants and 

 underbrush harbored such im- 

 mense numbers of rattlesnakes that 

 a wholesale war had been inaugurat- 

 ed, and it is reported a large barn 

 or cornhouse. at the ranch 

 had been filled up with the rem- 

 nants of rattles of hundreds of 

 thousands of rattlers killed by 

 emnloyed Mexicans and Negroes, 

 covering many miles of wild terri- 

 tory. The strict game laws, there- 

 fore, which in one way are pro- 

 tecting the game and the useful 

 feathery tribe, on the other hand, 

 give the reptile pest a chance to 

 increase incessantly — unless the 

 State offers a remedy for their 

 destruction. In one way also, the 

 local reptile dealers have' done a 

 good work in that line, but it seems 

 inadequate. Snakes propagate im- 

 mensely and with every venomous 

 reptile killed, hundreds, of later 

 offsprings from such one snake are 

 avoided. 



The above notes had been 

 written by the writer some years 

 ago, and since the country has been . 

 nearly cleared of the former reptile 

 pest. 



iScience it may be saidi Ihere 

 again is still in the experimental 

 state regarding a remedy that v/ill 

 neutralize snake venom immediate- 

 ly after its application — hypoder- 

 mieally. Snake venom is a toxic 

 agent which is injected by rep- 

 , tile 's fangs either — and in most in- 

 stances — into the cellular tissues 

 superficially, or deep seated, or it 

 la,cerates a blood vessel, or a nerve 

 etc. In the first instance the venom 

 (perhaps, and usually only one or 

 two drops) is infiltrated into the 

 subcuticular tissues by the curved 

 and needle-sharp edged fangs, and 

 the vepom is then slowly absorbed, 

 and by proper subcutaneous medi- 



cation of coagulating remedies it 

 is hindered from absorption into 

 the general system; and such cases 

 nearly always promptly recover, 

 after perhaps, superficial or deep- 

 seated inflammation, swelling and 

 gangrene of the tissues infiltrated. 

 Or, in the more serious and often 

 fatal cases, the venom had been 

 ejected into a blood vessel and im- 

 mediately absorbed and circulated 

 within the blood current. Where 

 the fang strikes a nerve or the bone, 

 such wounds are at once intensely 

 painful. The toxic agent generally 

 attacks the respiratory centers pri- 

 marily and the heart centers second- 

 arily, paralyzing each of them — 

 according to the severity of the 

 snake bite. The paralyzing effect 

 in all serious or moderately serious 

 snake bites, therefore, calls for 

 cardiac stimulants, and whilst whis- 

 key is the champion remedy with 

 many, competent observers and 

 authorities consider it inferior to 

 strychnia, which, in proportionate 

 doses, is a powerful cardiac and 

 cerebro-spinal stimulant. 



Dr. Mueller, of Australia, who 

 has had a wide, practical experience 

 in treating the bites of the most 

 venomous reptiles, including the co- 

 bra and others, and who is an au- 

 thority par excellence on venom in- 

 oculation, gives the strychnia treat- 

 ment preference to all others. He 

 says it has proven its antithesis in 

 snake venom, acting with the un- 

 erring certainty of a chemical test 

 if administered in proper and suf- 

 ficient quantities." For cobra bites 

 and others equally as venomous 

 he gives strychnia up to i grain as 

 required. 



Of late a chemical agent called 

 "Adrenalin" has been advocated 

 in snakebites by prominent author- 

 ities. After constricting and 

 bleeding the area of inoculation, 

 and painting same with Iodine, the 

 adrenalin solution is injected 

 subcutaneously, close to the fang- 

 wound. It serves to contract the 

 near located blood vessels and re- 

 tard the absorbtion of the venom, 



