THE ADDER. 135 
Another fatal case has occurred quite recently 
(June 1901) in Cumberland, where a little boy named 
Hartley, aged four years and eight months, was bitten 
on the leg by an adder. In this case death took place 
three days after the accident. Owing to the long dis- 
tance to be travelled, it was some hours before medical 
aid could be got, and though cardiac stimulants and 
permanganate of potassium were injected, the patient 
gradually succumbed to the effect of the venom.! 
The following description of a case of adder-bite 
has been sent me by my neighbour, B. St J. Attwood- 
Mathews, Esq., Pontrilas Court, Herefordshire, and 
is quoted in his own words :— 
“In the year 1846 or 1847, I forget which, I was 
walking on Jansley Moor, near Matlock, Derbyshire, 
on a hot day in the month of August. I had caught 
an adder about 2 feet long and put it into a box. 
On opening the box soon afterwards the adder bit me 
in the right forefinger. I shut up the adder again in 
the box, and tried to suck the venom from the wound. 
This was of no use, and soon I became very faint and 
sick, and fainted by the roadside. There I was found 
by some passers-by, who helped me into a gig and drove 
me home. I went to bed and had*my arm covered 
with cloths steeped in ammonia. The arm swelled 
up to twice its natural size, and the swelling extended 
' T am indebted to Dr Eden Cass of Ravenglass, near Carnforth, 
who attended the case, for kindly furnishing me with particulars of 
this fatality from adder-bite.—Author, 
