THE POISONOUS SNAKES OF INDIA. 137 



Elliot both independently arrived at the same couchision in the- 

 early nineties of last centnry. Elliot in two vahiahle papers I'ead 

 Ijefore the ^^ladras iMedical Association in 189-1 and 1895 con- 

 vincingly showed by experiment on animals, and by administration 

 in snake poisoned subjects that it is useless. He says '■ I can 

 confidently state that, from beginning to end, I never saw one 

 atom of benefit derived from the administi'ation of strychnine." 

 He ^\'ent still further, and described its action as " vicious "in 

 ophitoxsemia, and later published a pamphlet entitled " The danger;* 

 of strj-chnine in snake-bite.'" 



Alcohol. 

 Scarcely any case of ophitoxtemia escapes a generous dose cif 

 this drug, though it certainly does no good, often on the 

 contrary positive harm. Fayrer tried it in the form of brandy in 

 dogs, but no success attended its use. That it is actualh' harmful 

 nobody understanding its effects on the system can deny. A'incent 

 Richards says very sagely '■ O^'er-stiniulation in a case of snake- 

 poisoning can only expedite the absorption of the poison, which it 

 should be our aim to prevent being taken up into the general 

 circulation."' He speaks again even more emphatically in the 

 following words : " In my opinion every person Who resorts to it 

 should be punishable for malpractice."" The dangers of alcohol in 

 these cases are — (1) thoiigh at first it may stimulate the heart 

 \\'h6re there is a tendency to syncope, this effect is evanescent, and 

 then replaced by a depression which may still further cripple its 

 flagging efforts ; (2) hy dilating the blood vessels, and temporarily ' 

 increasing- the vigour of the heart, it operates in t^vo waj's — 

 favourable to the production or aggravation of any bleeding tenden- 

 cies, and by stimulating the blood current augments the rapidity of 

 absorption of venom from the seat of injury ; (3) alcohol induces- 

 a marked general fall in the opsonic index (i. e., one's capability for 

 resisting disease). This action would prove most detrimental in 

 cases like fasciatus and Echis poisoning "where the bitten subjects 

 often live many days. 



It is obvious from the above considerations that drugs that stimu- 

 late the centres in the brain are useless if not actually baneful. All 

 the three dealt with above, which are those perhaps most frequently 

 18 



