Mat 10, 1888.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



307 



mentioned, that has not been actually visited by Mr. 

 Bignell or myself, or some reliable surveyor, angler, I 

 sportsman or guide. 



As bearing upon this point and confirming my posi- 

 tion, I will introduce the following letter, from E. E. 

 Tache, Assistant Commissioner of Crown Lands, P. Q.: 



Province of Quebec, Department of Grown Lands. Quebec, 

 27tti March, 1888. W. H. H. Murray, Esq., Saint Lewis Hotel, 

 Quebec: Sir— T beg to acknowledge the receipt of j our favor of 

 the 25th inst., and to state that, in giving you a list of all the 

 maps (showing Lake Mistassini and surrounding country, that 

 have been published at various dates, it would necessitate quite 

 an amount of work, and would after all throw very little light on 

 the subject. I would, therefore, state that before the exploration 

 of the Mistassini Region made some years ago, by the Geologi- 

 cal Survey of Canada, and the more recent one performed by Mr. 

 Bignell, had taken place, all the maps that were published of that 

 region seem to have reproduced Lake Mistassini as it is shown 

 on Pere Laure's map. Placing myself at your disposal for all 

 supplementary information that I may be able to give you on the 

 subject, I remain, sir, your most obedient servant, E. E. Tache, 

 Ass't. Commissioner. 



In Canada, here, the inaccuracy of maps covering this 

 country and the absence of reliable information touching 

 it, are matters of confession and regret. It has been left 

 to a certain frivolous writer in the columns of the For- 

 est and Stream to discover and proclaim to the world 

 that Mr. Murray and everybody who desires to fetch a 

 trail through this vast region, can rind all needed detail 

 geographical guidance in Mitohel's Atlas, published in 

 1855! So much easier is it to survey a wild region in an 

 easy chair, with the help of an ignorant pen, than with 

 pack on back and chain in hand. As a matter of pro- 

 found geological and historic interest I have caused at 

 my own expense, transcriptions of Pere Laure's map 

 (17 SB) of the Mistassini country to be made. From this 

 map, as Mr. Tache says, all subsequent maps, with guess- 

 work modifications and enlargements, have been made. 

 If Lake Mistassinni is where Father Laure located it, and 

 of the shape and size he gave it, then it is evident that 

 Mr. Low, who claimed in his last report to the Govern- 

 ment at Ottawa, to have surveyed it, never saw 

 it, but surveyed some bay of the big lake, or some 

 lake near it, and that the real Mistassini, of which 

 fame through all the northern tribes speak, has yet 

 to, be seen and surveyed by a white man. My own 

 feeling is that Father Laure is in gross error in his chart 

 of the lake, and that there is no such lake as is on his 

 map there. But how he could have fallen into so gross 

 an error, I cannot conceive. But the lake, whether big 

 or little, is not the most interesting natural curiosity of 

 the region by any means, but in it is a curiosity, and a 

 marvel, far more interesting yet, if one may but find it. 



SNAKE BITE AND ITS ANTIDOTE .— I. 



Experiments With Crotalus Venom and Reputed 

 Antidotes, with Notes on the Saliva of 

 Heloderma ("Gila Monster"). 



BY H. C. YARROW, M.D. 

 Curator Department Reptiles, D. S. National Museum. 



IN 1684, Francisco Redi, an Italian, of whom Huxley 

 says be was "a man of the widest knowledge and 

 most versatile abilities, distinguished alike as a scholar, 

 poet, physician and naturalist." published the first work 

 extant upon the nature of serpent venom. It was called 

 "Ossermzione hit onto alle Vipeva" and was printed at 

 Florence. In this rare book are corrected many of the 

 popular superstitions and fallacies prevalent at that time. 

 Although little was added to our actual knowledge of 

 the properties of venom and its composition, still the 

 author is entitled to the credit of having been the pioneer 

 in this class of literature. From Eedi's time up to the 

 present day, a multitude of observers in this country and 

 abroad have given to this subject much' patient study 

 and research, with a view to discover some means by 

 which the suffering and deaths due to serpent venom 

 might be averted. 



In 1672 there was published in Paris a volume of 245 

 pages by Moyse Charas entitled "Nouvelles Experiences 

 sur la Vipere," which contained a reply to certain stric- 

 tures upon his work made by Redi, and it is interesting 

 to note the many curious remedies suggested by this 

 writer, who appears to have placed great faith in what 

 he calls the "seZ volatile de la vipere," & preparation made 

 by distilling chopped-up vipers, old and young. In 1702 

 Dr. Richard Mead — afterward physician to George II. in 

 1827 — published an account of his investigations upon the 

 subject of snake poisoning, which is interesting although 

 not of much practical value. 



From 1702 for sixty odd years nothing of consequence 

 was published, but in 1707 at Lucca appeared the great 

 work of Felix Fontana, entitled "Bicherche Filosofiche 

 Sopra il Veneno delta Vipera," a work so important that 

 it has been translated into several languages. As an ex- 

 ample of the amount of work done by this industrious 

 and learned Italian, it may be mentioned that he per- 

 formed over 6,000 experiments, employed over 3,000 

 vipers, and had bitten, more than 4,000 animals. His 

 most important discoveries were, first, with regard to the 

 actual position of the poison gland, which is above and 

 behind the fang, Mead and James having declared that 

 the venom was contained in the fang sheath; second, 

 that the venom of a viper was not hurtful to the 

 reptile itself if injected beneath the skin, or if a bite was 

 inflicted by one of its own species; third, that venom 

 was harmless to cold-blooded animals such as leeches, 

 slugs, snails and some harmless serpents; fourth, that 

 viper venom is poisonous to all warm-blooded animals, 

 and fifth, that venom was not absorbed by mucous mem- 

 branes. It is interesting to note that the conclusions of 

 this distinguished naturalist have been verified repeatedly 

 by later observei - s. 



In 1777 M. Sage, of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, 

 published a pamphlet recommending the use of ammonia 

 in snake bite, which plan of treatment, however, was not 

 original with himself, as it had already been recom- 

 mended by Jussieu. It was based upon the theory that 

 the active principle of the venom was an acid salt, but 

 Fontana, who later on performed a number of experi- 

 ments with it, condemned ammonia as useless, if not 

 hurtful. With regard to the aoidity of venom, Mr. Vin- 

 cent Richards states that at first it is acid, but soon be- 

 comes neutral, and this fact has been verified by the 

 vritex. 



In 1796 Dr. Patrick Russell studied the subject of ser- 

 pent poisoning, and the results are embodied in a book 

 which was published by the Court of Directors of the 

 East India Company. He performed a number of experi- 

 ments with Indian serpents, and brought into notice the 

 famous Tanjore pill, the principal ingredient of which is 

 arsenic, in which it may be added lie seems to place but 

 little reliance, as he recommends in addition either im- 

 mediate amputation or the ligature. Dr. Russell, it is 

 claimed, was the first to show" the error of the popular 

 belief that the mungoose is proof against the venom of 

 the cobra. It is true that if this little animal is left alone 

 with a cobra he is invariably victorious, but if bitten by 

 the snake he inevitably succumbs. It is a curious fact, 

 vouched for by Mr. Vincent Richards, that after the con- 

 flict the victorious mungoose gnaws out the cobra's fangs. 

 Dr. Russell's book is interesting as marking some onward 

 progress in the study of venom, but it can hardly be con- 

 sidered as a very valuable contribution to knowledge. 



In 1 799 a Mr. Boag in studying methods of treatment 

 in snake poisoning, advocated the use of nitrate of silver 

 and nitric acid baths, as well as the salts of mercury, but 

 curiously enough, he seems to place great reliance in 

 human saliva as an antidote, probably because it was 

 recommended by Seneca and the elder Pliny. Arsenic 

 he unhesitatingly condemns as being as dangerous as the 

 venom. He believed that death after snake bite resulted 

 from an abstraction of oxygen from the blood, and to 

 overcome this he proposed a speedy oxygenation of the 

 system by artificial respiration, and other methods of 

 procedure. This gentleman made a number of experi- 

 ments to prove his theory, all of which were unsuc- 

 cessful. 



In 1S01 Mr. John Williams advocated the claims of am- 

 monia as an antidote and gave a history of several cases, 

 which he believed had been saved by this agent, and, in 

 1S09, Dr. Macrae, who was bitten by a cobra, stated that 

 Ms recovery was due to thirteen spoonfuls of ammonia 

 which he swallowed. 



Mr. Breton, in 1825, published the results of a series of 

 experiments with serpent venom, but he was evidently 

 mistaken in his statement that "an innoxious snake can 

 be killed by the venom of a poisonous snake.*' 



In Vol. II., 1826, of the "Medical and Physical Trans- 

 actions of the Calcutta Society" may be found an article 

 by Dr. Daniel Butler on snake bite, in which he recom- 

 mends the administration of opium, brandy and sulphuric 

 ether in cobra poisoning, his treatment being founded upon 

 the theory that the heart and arterial system are princi- 

 pally affected, an hypothesis" now known to be untenable, 

 as we know that the principal action of cobra poison is 

 upon the respiratory centers. He also recommends the 

 use of the ligature, dry cupping and suction of the 

 wounds, and gives the history of several cases. 



Dr. Davy, in 1889, published an account of some experi- 

 ments with the poisonous snakes of Ceylon, but his 

 studies possess little, if any, practical value. 



From this period until I860 nothing of importance was 

 published regarding antidotes to serpent venom, although 

 it should be mentioned that various papers on the subject 

 of reptiles and their venom had been published from time 

 to time by such observers as Dr. Barton, Mangili, Prince 

 Lucien Bonaparte. Bernard Gratiolet and others. Brain- 

 ard and Green recorded their researches in 1853, the former 

 pubhshing a separate essay in 1854. 



In 1860 the Smithsonian Institution accepted for publi- 

 cation a work which has become classic, and which 

 appeared in January, 1861. It was entitled "Researches 

 upon the Venom of the Rattlesnake, with an Investiga- 

 tion of the Anatomy and Physiology of the Organs 

 Concerned," by S. Weir Mitchell, M.D. ; and this quarto 

 of 117 pages has done more to advance our positive knowl- 

 edge of Crotalus venom than any previous publication. 

 The conclusion reached by Dr. Mitchell, as a result of his 

 studies so far as antidotes were concerned, was that none 

 of those iu reports were reliable. About the same time 

 that the work already mentioned was passing through 

 the press, a paper by the same author, entitled "On the 

 Treatment of Rattlesnake Bite, with Experimental Criti- 

 cisms upon the Various Remedies now in Use,'* appeared 

 in the North American Medico-Chirurgical Review, 1861, 

 V., 269, and gave the results of numerous experiments 

 with so-called antidotes, and in summing up the author 

 recommends no special plan of treatment, but advises 

 the ligature, or excision, or both, with the administration 

 of stimulants; in short, the general symptoms are to be 

 treated according to the indications. 



Another essay by the same author appeared in the New 

 York Medical Journal, 1868, entitled "Experimental Con- 

 tributions to the Toxicology of Rattlesnake Venom," and 

 in this Dr. Mitchell corrected some of his views published 

 in previous papers. 



Following the essays of Mitchell in IS 72 came the mag- 

 nificent folio work of Dr. Joseph Fayrer of Calcutta en- 

 titled, "The Thanatophidia of India," being a description 

 of the venomous snakes of the Indian peninsula, with an 

 account of the influence of their poison and life, and 

 a series of experiments, London, 1872. This work, beauti- 

 fully illustrated with thirty-one imperial folio plates 

 drawn from life by native artists, is a veritable monu- 

 ment of patient research, and a most valuable contribu- 

 tion to our knowledge of the effect of the venom of the 

 different poisonous snakes, with which India is so abun- 

 dantly supplied. Unfortunately, so far as mitigating the 

 loss of human life is concerned, the author is obliged to 

 admit that no plan of treatment can be absolutely relied 

 upon, as he tested every known or asserted antidote. In 

 treating a case of serpent bite he would employ ligature, 

 excision and general treatment. A number of other pa- 

 pers have appeared from time to time, all more or less 

 valuable, by such well-known authors as Dr. Shoitt of 

 India, Harford of Australia, Brunton and Fayrer, Vin- 

 cent Richards and others, but in none of them is an ac- 

 count of any discovery of a physiological or chemical an- 

 tidote to serpent venom, once it is diffused through the 

 circulation. 



In 1881, however, Dr. J. B. de Lacerda, director of the 

 physiological laboratory of the National Museum of Rio de 

 Janeiro, electrified the scientific world by announcing to 

 the French Academy of Sciences that he had discovered 

 iu Potassa permanganas an absolutely reliable chemical 

 antidote to the venom of the Bothrops, a poisonous South 

 American genus of serpents. In the experiments which 

 were made upon dogs, the venom dissolved in water was 

 injected beneath the animal's leg, and in from one to two 

 minutes afterward a one per cent, solution of perrnau- 

 f ganate of potassa was thrown into the wound made by 



the syringe. In other cases the permanganate solution 

 was thrown directly into a, vein, and out of thirty cases 

 only two of the animals succumbed to the effects of the 

 Bothrops venom. In some instances the permanganate 

 was not employed until the characteristic symptoms of 

 poison manifested themselves. He formally expressed 

 himself that iu tlus salt wo possess an absolutely reliable 

 chemical antidote. 



It was not to be supposed that such astonishing results 

 could be accepted without further experiments by vari- 

 ous persons, and in 1882 Dr. G. Badolini, of Bologna, re- 

 peated Lacerda's experiments and signally failed. Mr. 

 Vincent Richards, of Calcutta, who had been a member 

 of the Snake Poison Commission in India, having learned 

 of do Lacerda's studies, at once instituted a series of experi- 

 ments to verify if possible the statements made, pirbhshing 

 his conclusions in the Indian Medical Gazette, Calcutta, 

 XVII., I., 57, 85. He is of opinion that the salt is not, 

 strictly speaking, an antidote, but that it may prove of 

 service in neutralizing the venom while in the tissues, 

 but is of no service if the poison has been absorbed into 

 the general circulation. In his over one hundred experi- 

 ments be used solution of cobra poison and permanganate 

 solution varying in strength, and from his Avell-known 

 careful method of working, great reliance may be placed 

 in his statements. His remarks in summing up will be 

 given further on. 



Theodore Aron, one of Prof. Binz's assistants at the 

 University of Bonn, also experimented in 1882 with the 

 permanganate as an antidote to cobra poison, publishing 

 his results in the Centralblatt fur Klinische Medizin, 

 Bonn, 1882, No. 31, Nov. 18, and states that he saved 

 some animals by its uses, but he seems to attach mucli 

 more value to the use of a solution of chloride of calcium, 

 for out of twenty-two experiments with this salt, he 

 saved seventeen of the rabbits which had been inoculated 

 with the venom. He also used alcohol, caffeine, a tropine 

 and bromine as antidotes, but all failed. 



In April, 1882, Dr. Couty, who had assisted Dr. de 

 Lacerda with Ms experiments in Brazil, sent a commu- 

 nication to the Academy of Sciences of Paris, in which 

 he stated that, after having made experiments himself, 

 he was obliged to conclude that the permanganate had 

 no antidotal effect upon serpent venom ; when in the cir- 

 culation all of the animals inoculated died. De Lacerda, 

 in answering the statement of his former colleague, men- 

 tions that a rupture of friendly relations had taken place 

 between himself and Dr. Couty, and explains why the 

 latter had failed, when he himself had almost invariably 

 succeeded. Space will not permit of this being repeated 

 here. 



It is but fair to state in connection with the credit 

 given to de Lacerda that Dr. Armand Gautiu of Paris, 

 about the same period, in experiments with cobra and 

 rattlesnake poison, came to the conclusion that a solution 

 of caustic potassa acted as an antidote to the venom, and 

 his memoir was read before the Academy of Medicine 

 July 26, 1881. 



In 1884 Dr. de Lacerda published in Rio de Janeiro an 

 8vo. volume of 200 pages entitled Leeons sur le Venin des 

 Serpents du Bresil et sur la Methode de Traitement des 

 Mormres Venimeuses par le Permanganate de Potasse" 

 in which he reiterates his opinion regarding the antido- 

 tal value of the permanganate and states that his discov- 

 ery is "a veritable scientific and humarutarian conquest of 

 which the happy results have been verified a thousand 

 times, not only in Brazil but throughout the world." In 

 closing he says: i Tt is not for my country alone that I 

 have written these pages, for I hope they will be read in 

 many parts of the globe. It is for this that I appeal to 

 the competent men of all countries begging them to cor- 

 rect any fault or errors I may have made, and to fill up 

 the gaps that may exist in this book." The writer would 

 state that these few sentences of Dr. de Lacerda insti- 

 gated him to perform the experiments which will be given 

 hereafter. 



Much attention, of late years, has been attracted, espe- 

 cially in the British colonies, to the so-called discovery by 

 Dr. Geo. B. Halford of Liq. ammonia as an antidote to 

 serpent venom, and while the intravenous injection of 

 this liquid may have originated with Mm, the substance 

 is one which has been repeatedly tried and failed, even 

 so far back as the time of Fontana. Halford's theory 

 appealed so strongly to the popular mind that in Mel- 

 bourne, Australia, hundreds of hypodermic syringes were 

 sold to the settlers, who fully believe they held in their 

 hands an absolute antidote* to the bites of venomous 

 serpents. Sir Joseph Fayrer and numerous observers 

 have, found it entirely useless in cobra poi oning, and 

 Mitchell states that as a stimulant it is far inferior to 

 alcohol. Tt is oMy fair to Dr. Halford to state that he 

 reports a number of apparently authentic cases of snake 

 bite in which the patients recovered after ammonia had 

 been mjected into the veins. The writer may add that 

 in his experiments with the Liquor ammonia the results 

 were astonishingly disastrous. These experiments will 

 be related in another part of this paper. 



The action of the venom of the copperhead (Ancistro- 

 don contortrix) has been studied in 1883 by Dr. Isaac 

 Ott, of Easton, Pa., and finally has appeared the mag 

 nificent study of venoms by Dr. S. Weir Mitchell and Dr 

 Edward T. Reichert, published as one of the "Smithsonian 

 Contributions to Knowledge." So far as the writer 

 knows, with the exception of a few unimportant papers, 

 the subject of serpent poisoning and antidotes has in this 

 review been brought up to date. 



(TO SE CONTINUED.) 



Harits of the Carijou. — North Livmgston, Maine. — 

 R. D. K., writing from Danbury, Conn., saying that 

 caribou do not yard in the winter, makes a very great 

 mistake to my certain knowledge. They do not yard 

 until the snow gets quite deep and then they do so, for I 

 have taken them in their yards forty years since, and 

 know positively, without the shadow of a doubt. The 

 caribou is the swiftest on foot of any animal that in- 

 habits the forests of northern Maine. Their skins are the 

 best to fill snowshoes of any other thing known. When 

 the skin is wet it tightens under your feet and never gets 

 loose.— J. A. H. 



Ferris burgh, Vt., April 29.— On the evening of the 

 26th heard peeping frogs and saw Split Rock Light for 

 the first time; 28th heard grass plover and white-throated 

 sparrow; 29th saw barn swallows. Hipatica has been in 

 blossom ten days, bloodroot five days, adder tongue twq 

 days.— Awahsoose, 



