598 POISONING. 



Snake Bite. 



SYMPTOMS. — Shock; swelling of the part; faintness; 

 paralysis ; unconsciousness ; convulsions ; death. 



TREATMENT.— In his book, "Diseases of the Horse," Mr. 

 Hutcheon, M.R.C.V.S., makes the following remarks on snake- 

 bite: — 



" I have had very little experience of the treatment of snake- 

 bite in animals, but in the early part of 1892, I had an opportunity 

 of trying the treatment of snake-bite by strychnine, discovered and 

 successfully used by Dr. A. Mueller, of Tachandandah, Victoria, 

 Australia. The Doctor writes — -vide Agricultural J ournal, March 

 24th, 1892 — as follows: — '(a) I am using a solution of nitrate 

 of strychnine of 1 in 240 of water with a little glycerine. (&) 20 

 minims of this are injected in the usual manner by a hypodermic 

 injection, (c) The frequency of repetition depends on the symp- 

 toms being more or less th,reatening, say fro^m ten to twenty 

 minutes. When all have disappeared and the strychnine shows 

 its first independent action by slight muscular spasms, the in- 

 jections must, as a matter of course, be disoontinued, unless after 

 a while the poison again reasserts itself. The quantity of 

 strychnine required in some cases has amounted to a grain or 

 more within a few hours. Both poisons are thoroughly anta- 

 gonistic, and no hesitation need be felt in pushing on the use 

 of the drug to quantities that would be fatal in the absence of 

 snake-poison. Out of about 100 cases treated after my method, 

 some of them at the point of death, there has been but one 

 failure, and this arose from the injections being discontinued 

 after 1|- grains had been injected. (d) Any part of the body 

 will of course do for the injection, though I am in the habit 

 of making them . in the neighbourhood of the bitten part, or 

 on it.' 



" The case which I refer to was a horse which was bitten on 

 the muscular portion 6f the right cheek, the whole of that side 

 of his face and lips were intensely swollen and the swelling very 

 soon extended to the throat, seriously affecting his breathing. 

 I had no solution of strychnine ' and was, therefore, unable to 

 inject it under the skin, but I administered doses of six grains 

 of strychnine by the mouth, simply placing it well back on his 

 tongue; the nervous prostration and the local swelling made it 

 impossible to pour anything down his throat. I repeated the 

 six grains of strychnine at intervals of half an hour, until I had 



