: \ 
30 Bite of the North American Coral Snakes. | January, 
I have treated cases successfully when no other antidote was at hand, by giving 
internally and externally tincture of iodine, and using. whisky, ad Zidétem, to keep ` 
up temperature and pulse. 
Remedies to be successful in such cases must be applied very soon after the 
wound is received. When delayed too long the vital forces sink rapidly, and when 
the patient ceases to complain of pain, death is close at hand. 
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
HOMAS KEARNEY. 
Dr. Herff’s letter contains information of two additional cases, 
one proving fatal, the other having the most serious consequences. 
He writes as following. 
I know two cases where persons were bitten in the finger, where the back- 
teeth of the serpent could come into action, and one died in twenty-four hours, while 
the other one recovered after an almost fatal prostration of thirty-six hour’s duration. 
Different from our common poisonous snakes me scion tes a neither swell 
nor become discolored, but the poison acte a-serpents (hy- 
drophis and platurus) is described to act. For jóia nothing is felt but a glow- 
ing heat over the body, which is soon followed by total prostration, very smali and 
slow pulse and absolute suppression of urine. The fatal case I know of came under 
my observation a as minutes before death occurred under the symptoms of paralysis 
of the heart. The second case was brought soon enough for me to try stimulants, 
whisky, hypodermic rates of ammonia and fomentations of digitalis leaves over 
the region of the kidneys. The man, a strong young Scotchman, recovered in three 
days and felt only a feeling of tingling in his extremities for some time after. n 
In neither case unconsciousness, vomiting, or bleeding from nose or mouth oc- , q 
curred, nor could anything be observed on the wound, except the small impression 
caused by the teeth of the serpent. Both men kept the snakes as pets and the last one ; 
used to put his finger in the animal’s mouth very often to show how tame he was. — 
One day he put it in a little deeper than usual and while trying to extricate it the © 
teeth bit him. ey 
I may add that before I had these experiences I used to handle snakes of that spe- 
cies myself frequently and had no hesitation to catch them with my hands, although a 
I never tried the experiment for which the poor Scotchman paid so dearly. Different 
from other snakes, it does not try to bite, but when you handle it winds around your 
hand with considerable force and for such a thin animal with a very firm grip. 
4. A recent letter from Mr. James Beel, of Gainesville, Florida; 
to Professor Baird, and by him kindly transmitted to me, con- 
tains some matters of interest relative to coral snake bites. ba 
quote from it as follows: 
“ I have known for some time that the coral snake was poisonous, quite as much 
so as the rattlesnake, but I did not know but what there were two kinds, one poison- 
ous and the other not. A gentleman and a little child were killed in West Florida, - 
where I formerly lived, by snakes bite, and, ’tis said, by this kind of snake. The 
poison, however, was not so rapid in its effects. I once put a grass snake and one 
of these coral snakes into a large glass pickle-jar, and the coral snake bit the other, 
which died in a few minutes thereafter, Mrs. Bell was watching them at the time, 
and thinks it did not live over five minutes after being bitten. I have tried fre- 
