May 24, 1888.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



849 



MAP OP THE ST. MARY'S LAKE REGION. 



has been approached on the south by Dr. J. C. Merrill, 

 who, however, did not get within two hundred miles of 

 it. It offers a rich field to the intelligent ornithologist, 

 and many points of very great interest might be cleared 

 up by an energetic, painstaking collector, Avho could de- 

 vote a season to work in these mountains. 



(TO BE CONCLUDED.) 



SNAKE BITE AND ITS ANTIDOTE.— 11. 



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, V. S. National Museum. 



LET us now examine the testimony of others as to the 

 efficacy of the permanganate as an antidote to serpent 

 venom. The first to repeat de Lacerda's experiments was 

 his former assistant Dr. Couty, who declared in the 

 Compt, Bend, Acad, des Sc., Par., 1882, April 24, that the 

 permanganate was not an antidote, and that a favorable 

 opinion upon its merits should be reserved until further 

 experiments had been tried. 



M. Vulpian, in Compt. Rend. Acad, des Sc., Par., 1882, 

 March 6, 613, states that he endeavored to repeat de La- 

 cerda's experiments with the permanganate of potash 

 and hi id come to the conclusion that an intravenous in- 

 jection of some centigrams of permanganate can have no 

 influence upon venom after it has been taken up by the 

 circulation, particularly as it is decomposed after a few 

 instants, and in case an effective dose be given, death 

 might result from the antidote. Jn fact he says it is dif- 

 ficult to explain how the bites of Bothrops were cured in 

 Brazil by the permanganate unless such bites are not 

 always mortal. In his remmc he says there can be no 

 doubt but that the permanganate can only be useful after 

 recent bites, for if one or several hours elapse no anti- 

 dotal effects can be produced. He also states that it 

 would be wrong to rely upon this drug in cases of bites 

 of other venomous reptiles in which the bites are often, or 

 more rapidly mortal. 



Dr. G. Badaloni reports in the Lancet, London, 1883,1,, 

 768, that from his experiments with the permanganate 

 he is led to believe it is of no avail in cases of poisoning 

 from viper bite. Mr. Vincent Richards, of Calcutta, who 



used permanganate in a great number of experiments re- 

 garding its antidotal power over the cobra venom, has 

 reached the following conclusion: 



I. "That in dogs no appreciable symptoms of cobra 

 poisoning followed the hypodermic or intravenous injec- 

 tion of a watery solution of from two to seven centi- 

 grammes of cobra poison, when previously mixed with 

 from one to three decigrammes of permanganate of pot- 

 ash, though, under ordinary circumstances, such quan- 

 tities hypodermically injected are more than sufficient 

 to produce fatal results." This statement simply proves 

 that the salt renders the poison inert when mixed to- 

 gether in a vessel, not in the body of an animal, and our 

 own experiments show a similar condition. 



II. "That when similar quantities of a watery solution 

 of cobra poison were hypodermically injected into dogs 

 and were followed either immediately or after an inter- 

 val of four minutes (the longest interval I have' yet suf- 

 ficiently tested), by the hypodermic injection with the 

 same part of a watery solution of permanganate of pot- 

 ash (one to six decigrammes) no appreciable symptom of 

 cobra poisoning resulted." This experience of Mr. Rich- 

 ards differs entirely in its result Prom ours, as is shown 

 by the notes given above. 



III. "That when glycerine was used instead of water, 

 to dissolve the dried cobra poison, the permanganate 

 of potash appeared to have no power over the viru- 

 lence of the virus." This statement, it is thought, 

 has been disproved by our own experiments already 

 related. 



IV. "That after the development of symptoms of cobra 

 poisoning the injection of permanganate of potash, 

 whether hypodermic or intravenous, or both , failed to 

 exercise any influence upon the symptoms. " 



V. "That permanganate of potassa possesses no pro- 

 phyllactic properties, since death followed the hypoder- 

 mic injection of 3i centigrammes of cobra poison in 

 watery solution in the case of a dog which had been 

 hypodermically injected a few hours previously with 8 

 decigrammes of the agent in solution." 



VI. "That it would appear to be absolutely necessary 

 that the permanganate to be efficacious should come into 

 actual contact with the cobra poison. " 



VII. "That although no symptoms of cobra poisoning 

 followed the injection of cobra poison and permanganate 

 of potash, sloughing of the part injected sometimes fol- 

 lowed." Sloughing we found to be extrenely rare in our 

 cases, as will be seen from the notes, in fact a 5 per cent. 



solution of the permanganate injected several times into 

 the leg of a rabbit had no appreciable effect, 



VIII. "That up to the present time it has never been 

 experimentally shown that any agent has either the power 

 to neutralize the cobra poison lying in the tissues, nor to 

 prevent death when four minutes had elapsed from the 

 time of injectfion of the poison to that of treatment." 



IX. "That if permanganate of potash has such power 

 to destroy so subtle a poison as that of the cobra it is 

 probable that the hypodermic injection of the agent in 

 the bite of a rabid animal, would destroy the virus which 

 causes that terrible disease hydrophobia." 



The writer would remark that as early as 1870 he 

 treated three cases of persons bitten by rabid animals 

 with applications of a solution of permanganate of potassa 

 after incision of the bites had been performed; none of 

 the patients had rabies canina. 



Sir Joseph Fayrer states in his address to the Medical 

 Society of London, speaking of Richards's views, as fol- 

 lows: "I agree with Richards that so far as it goes it is 

 a good local application and as such ought to be used; or, 

 in its absence, tannic acid or liquor potassa might be re- 

 sorted, to with the same object; but as a constitutional 

 remedy, as a physiological antidote, it is powerless, like 

 all others that have been tried and failed to do good." 

 Dr. de Lacerda himself, although he attributes the high- 

 est value to it as a chemical antidote, both as a powerful 

 oxidizing agent and by the action of the potash, says, as 

 to the idea of finding a physiological antidote for Snake 

 poisoning: "I entirely agree with you that it is a Utopia; 

 although I found that liquor jwtassai practically an- 

 swered the same purpose as permanganate of potash, it 

 did not decompose the venom, but merely destroyed the 

 tissues in which the venom was lying, thereby prevent- 

 ing its absorption; and it was subsequently discharged 

 with the slough. This was proved by the fact that when 

 the venom and liquor potassce were mixed and injected 

 subcutaneously, no constitutional effect followed; but if 

 the same mixture was diluted with water and injected 

 into a vein or into the peritoneal cavity of an animal, 

 symptoms of cobra poisoning were soon manifest, and 

 the animal died." 



As opposed to the opinion of the persons quoted, we 

 have on the affirmative side of the question only de La- 

 cerda's statements and cases, and one or two others. The 

 first is mentioned by Dr. de Fourier in the Journal de Hy- 

 giene tor Sept. 22, 1882, in which a case is mentioned of 

 an individual having been bitten by a very large serpent 



