VENOMOUS ANIMALS 277 



pid, and unless timely aid is rendered death may be 

 the sequel. 



"What is to be done in the face of such danger? 

 One must press tightly or even bind fast the finger, 

 the hand, the arm, above the wound, in order to pre- 

 vent the passage of the venom into the blood. The 

 wound must be made to bleed by the exercise of pres- 

 sure all around it; it must be energetically sucked 

 to draw out the venomous liquid. I have explained 

 to you in speaking of the bee, and I now repeat it, 

 that venom is not a poison. It will not act, how- 

 ever powerful it be, unless it mixes with the blood. 

 Sucking it, therefore, is without danger if the lining 

 of the mouth is intact. 



"It is plain that if, by energetic suction and by 

 pressing until the blood flows, we succeed in extract- 

 ing all the venom from the wound, the latter will 

 henceforth be of no serious importance. For greater 

 security, as soon as possible the wound should be 

 cauterized with a corrosive fluid, such as ammonia 

 or nitric acid, or even with a red-hot iron. Cau- 

 terization acts in such a manner as to destroy the 

 venomous matter. It is painful, I admit, but one 

 must submit to that in order to escape something 

 worse. 



"Cauterization falls within the physician's prov- 

 ince; but the preliminary precautions — ligature to 

 stop the spread of the venom, pressure to make the 

 envenomed blood flow, and suction to extract the 

 venomous liquid — are matters for our personal at- 

 tention; and all this should be taken in hand im- 



