HISTORICAL REVIEW. 7 



confirmed by reliable observations. But the hint thus 

 given to science was not taken. Instead of research 

 being pushed on diligently in the only direction that 

 promised any chance of success, it was cut short by 

 the baneful method of experimenting on animals. 

 When it had been demonstrated that a dog, a cat, or 

 other animal, after having been saturated with snake- 

 poison, did not recover after the administration of an 

 alleged antidote, the illosyical conclusion was drawn at 

 once that it could not possibly be of any use to man, 

 whilst, in reality, the only proof rendered by the 

 experiment, if made properly, was that the respective 

 antidote could not be relied on in treating animals of 

 the class experimented on. That some of these des- 

 pised antidotes are worth a little further investigation 

 may, in the light of present experience as to the value 

 of strychnine in snakebite, be inferred from the fact, 

 that among them is the wood of Strychnos Colubrina, 

 and also the well-known Huang Noo, a vegetable ex- 

 tract made from another variety of the Strychnos 

 family, and largely used by the Chinese, whilst, accord- 

 ing to a letter in the Australasian Medical Gazette, 

 July, 1892, the principal ingredient of a strange com- 

 pound used by the native snake doctors of Central 

 America with much success is Nttx Vomica. 



It is superfluous to enter into a criticism of the 

 treatment of snakebite until recently in vogue, for, 

 with the exception of the local one by ligature and 

 excision, it stands self-condemned by its complete 

 inefficiency. It may be summed up as a vain attempt 



