126 .HUNTING AND FISHING IN FLORIDA. 
There is no known antidote for crotaline poison (as the venom 
of the rattlesnake is called). 
Dr. L. Stejneger, of Washington, once suggested to me that a 
solution of cromic acid or bichloride of gold, injected hypodermi- 
cally about the wound, might prove efficacious. 
As crotaline poison is claimed to act directly on the medulla, it 
would seem necessary to stimulate the heart’s action with the hope 
of tiding over the paralyzing effects of the poison.* This might, 
RATTLESNAKE PREPARING TO STRIKE, 
perhaps, be accomplished by the use of strychnia, to be given, I 
should say, in doses of one fiftieth of a grain, repeated every half 
hour, if there are symptoms of heart failure. Of course, it goes 
without saying that every possible effort should be made to procure 
the services of a regular physician. 
If a person should be bitten by a rattlesnake the wound should 
at once be opened to produce a free flow of blood. Ligatures 
* Dr. Calmette, a French physician, claims to have attained good results by the use of hypochloride of calcium. 
He also claims to have immunized animals by minimal subcutaneous inoculations of attenuated poison and 
states that the serum of such vaccinated animals possessed strong specific antidotal properties against the 
poison with which they had been vaccinated. — Annales de l’ Inst. Pasteur, May, 1894, and April, 1895. 
