NATURAL HISTORY. 



393 



bite depend largely on the location of 

 the bite. Should the fangs strike directly 

 into the arterial or venous circulation re- 

 covery is impossible, as tar as rattle- 

 snakes, copperheads and moccasins are con- 

 cerned. If the bite, however, is in a fleshy 

 portion, removed from vein or artery, re- 

 covery may be looked for with proper treat- 

 ment, that is, excision of surrounding tis- 

 sue, copious bleeding, a clean antiseptic 

 dressing frequently renewed, followed by 

 tonic treatment internally. These methods 

 are in use by the Indians, cowboys and 

 army surgeons on our frontier. The ten- 

 dency of all snake poison is to coagulate 

 the blood and cause clots. Any physician 

 is acquainted with remedies that antagon- 

 ize this condition and it would seem that 

 with the combination of such knowledge 

 and some horse sense a reliable remedy for 

 snake bites could be concocted. 



X. O. S., Baltimore, Md. 



the present case it would have been well 

 for Mr. Leslie to have placed a card over 

 'the little cub labeled "Hands Off," and then 

 to have stood by with a baseball bat to en- 

 force his order. — Editor. 



KILLED THE BABY. 



Last January a party of us succeeded in 

 killing a black bear in the Indian Territory. 

 After the usual time had elapsed in talking- 

 it over, examining the fur, etc., we dressed 

 her. We then found she was with cubs. 

 We removed them, and noticing that they 

 were still kicking, Ed Leslie said he would 

 take one home with him and pet it. " He 

 removed it from the sack in which it was 

 enclosed, dried it by rubbing it with his 

 handkerchief, opened his shirt, put it next 

 his body to keep it warm, and carried it to 

 camp. That was Wednesday morning. He 

 arrived home with it the following Satur- 

 day. Sunday the cub was visited by over 

 ioo people, and of course all handled it, 

 which caused its death that afternoon. It is 

 now preserved in alcohol and on exhibition 

 at a hardware store in town. 



Geo. Jamison, Gower, Mo. 



It is a great pity the visitors could not 

 have been content to keep their hands off 

 the little cub and to let him live. Many 

 people are so burdened with morbid curios- 

 ity that they can not be satisfied to look at 

 anything without handling it, notwithstand- 

 ing the fact that the mere placing of hands 

 on an article adds no possible interest to an 

 investigation. 



This reminds me of a statement made by 

 a visitor to the Paris Exposition. He said 

 he noticed the French people displayed 

 their native politeness by labeling their ex- 

 hibits "Please do not handle." The Eng- 

 lish were a little more straightforward and 

 labeled theirs "Do not handle." The Amer- 

 icans appeared to realize that it was not 

 necessary to be polite to people who insist- 

 ed on handling everything they looked at 

 and labeled their exhibits "Hands off." In 



MOCCASINS AND. BATS. 

 Will you kindly tell me how poisonous 

 the copperhead moccasin is and what is 

 the best remedy for its bite ? Also, can you 

 tell me whether a bat is considered a bird 

 or an animal ? 



Edward C. Boykin, Alberene, Va. 



ANSWER. 



The copperhead is decidedly poisonous. 

 Among North American snakes its venom 

 is second in virulence only to that of the 

 rattlesnake. 



The method of treatment for the bite of 

 the copperhead is to make a cut 4 inches 

 long through the wound, sufficient to cause 

 the blood to flow freely, then inject above 

 and around the wound a solution consisting 

 oi one 5-grain tablet of permanganate 

 of potash, dissolved in 2 ounces of water. 

 The right quantity is about 3 times the 

 capacity of an ordinary hypodermic syringe. 

 The wound should also be bathed freely 

 with this solution, and absorbent cotton 

 should be used to cover the wound, so that 

 it will not be exposed to the air. During 

 this treatment, 2 or 3 small doses of whis- 

 key should be taken, but great care should 

 be used that the quantity is not large. 



It is the practice of Peter Gruber ("Rat- 

 tlesnake Pete") to drink when bitten by a 

 venomous serpent all the milk he can swal- 

 low. The stomach ejects it, but it should 

 be taken until sure that the stomach is free 

 from the poison. If the heart grows weak, 

 strychnine should be injected with a hypo- 

 dermic syringe. 



A bat is a true mammal, not a bird. It 

 belongs to the order Chi-rop'te-ra, which 

 means "wing-handed." — Editor. 



AN ENEMY OF THE BIRDS. 



I should lose one of my best friends if 

 I should miss a copy of Recreation, as I 

 find so much information and good litera- 

 ture in it. 



I was always a friend of the crow until 

 three years ago, when I had strong reasons 

 for turning against him. My chicken yard 

 is in an orchard, a short distance from the 

 house, and I had some chicks about 2 weeks 

 old at the time I first noticed the crows 

 among the trees, but thinking the visitors 

 were after worms I paid no particular at- 

 tention to them, only to say thank you for 

 their supposed kindness. I soon noticed, 

 however, that my chicks were disappearing, 

 2, 3 or 4 a day, and I began to watch what 



