DOCUMENTS 355 



" At 7 a.m. on January 19, 1897, G-., aged 22, was going along 

 a footpath near Trouvaillant, when he was bitten in the left 

 external malleolus by a Trigonocephalus which was rutting (a cir- 

 cumstance which, according to the natives, aggravates the character 

 of the bite) . 



" After killing one of the reptiles (the other having escaped) , 

 the young man made his way to the detachment of gendarmery 

 stationed close by. The officer in command applied a ligature 

 to the upper part of the leg, cupped the man a few times, and 

 sent information to us at the Military Hospital. On reaching 

 the spot at 9.15 we found, on the postero-inferior surface of the 

 left, external malleolus, two small wounds resembling those caused 

 by the bite of a snake. The leg was swollen and painful, and the 

 patient could hardly put his foot to the ground. 



" At 9.30, after taking the usual antiseptic precautions, we gave 

 an injection of Calmette's anti-venomous serum, from a bottle 

 dated December 26, 1896. Not having any hypochlorite of calcium 

 at our disposal, we washed the wound with a 1 in 60 solution of 

 hyposulphite of soda, and applied a dressing of carbolic gauze. An 

 hour later the patient was taken to Saint Pierre in a carriage. 

 Temperature 37"2° C. No vomiting, or tetanic phenomena. In 

 the afternoon the pain was less acute, and the oedema seemed 

 to have diminished a little. Mercurial ointment rubbed in. 



" Four days later the patient, being cured without having had 

 the least rise of temperature, proceeded to the country. 



" This case is interesting, since a single dose of antivenomous 

 serum (20 grammes), injected two hours and a half after the 

 accident, sufficed to cure a young man bitten by a Trigonoce'pTialus 

 measuring 1 metre 20 cm. in length." 



M. — Crotalus horidas. 



XXXVIII. — Case recorded by Dr. P. Eenaux, of Piriapolis, 

 Uruguay {La Trihuna popular, Piriapolis, December 14, 1898). 



