448 SNAKES OF CEYLON. 



had no anaesthesia, though numbness was a subjective 

 .symptom. His pulse was slow, full, and bounding, and his 

 breathing similar to that of a diabetic coma patient. At a 

 later stage he was unable to speak, his paralyses generally had 

 increased, and he died at 8 p.m., ten hours after being bitten. 



Treatment : He was ordered -^o grain of strychnine 

 hypodermically, and brandy internally. 



Remarks : The case was a very typical one of Colubrine 

 poisoning, and presented nothing but what was confirmatory 

 of previously reported cases. Abdominal pain appears to be a 

 characteristic feature of poisoning from the cxruleus Venom, 

 which is not specially evident, if evident at all in other 

 Colubrine toxsemise. The only other cases of fatal krait bite 

 known to me (two) died in twelve and five and a half hours 

 respectively. 



(j) Treatment : Antivenene is of no use against this poison 

 and it Would be waste of time administering it. The only 

 thing one can do is to treat symptoms in the hope that the 

 dose injected has been something sublethal. Above all look 

 for syncope, and treat this vigorously. Many cases of snake- 

 bite die from syncope that ought to be saved. Syncope is 

 not a symptom of the toxaemia, but a complication due to 

 fright. 



Probably the best procedure is to inject BayUss' fluid 

 intravenously until the pulse is restored. This is composed 

 of— 



Parts. 

 Gum arable . . 7 • 



Sodium chloride . . . . 0-9 



Water .. ..92-1 



100-0 



This must, of course, be sterilized. If this is not ready to 

 hand one Ampoule of Parke, Davis & C'o's Pituitary (1 m.) 

 should be injected hypodermically. Adrenalin is another 



