370 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[May 81, 1888. 



In view of these statements it was determined to try 

 the antidotal effect of Euphorbia, but unfortunately only 

 one species could be obtained at this season— .Euphorbia 

 maeulata, of which a strong tincture was made, and to 

 ascertain if it possessed itself poisonous qualities at 12:45 

 P. M., Nov. 12, 1887, a healthy male rabbit received in 

 right hindleg a hypodermic injection of 50 minims of the 

 tincture, and no unpleasant symptoms were manifested, 

 the animal having been carefully watched. Nov. 14 

 he was perfectly well. The next experiment was as 

 follows: 



Nov. 12 — 12:30 P. M. — Injected 5 minims of venom solu- 

 tion in hindleg of rabbit, followed at once by 50 

 minims of alcoholic tincture Euphorbia maeulata, 

 and 2 fluid drams given by stomach, and wet pad 

 of tincture applied over wound. 

 12:35 P. M. — When released animal was very feeble, 



hai'dly able to stand. 

 1:15 P. M. — Gave rabbit 1 dram of tincture Euphorbia 

 and 1 dram of water per mouth; animal very weak. 

 1:20 P. M. — Rabbit very nearly dead; respiration fast: 



has lost all motion. 

 y:15 P. M. — Rabbit quietly died; very little swelling or 



discoloration of the part injected. 

 This single experiment is given for what it is worth, 

 and can hardly be considered as a fair test, but efforts 

 will be made to obtain the species of Euphorbia men- 

 tioned as an antidote by Dr. Irwin, and its effects will be 

 further investigated. 



Dr. Robert Fletcher in his valuable paper entitled "A 

 Study of some recent Experiments hi Serpent Venom, " in 

 the^?n,. Jour, of Med. Scl, 1883, n. so., LXXXVL, 144, 

 mentions a case reported by a French physician of a per- 

 son bitten by a viper, in which the very grave symptoms 

 developed had been cured by the administration of jabor- 

 andi. which produced copious salivation and perspiration, 

 the dangerous effects of the venom gradually disappear- 

 ing. 



This case was looked up and was found in the Oaz. 

 Sebd. de Med, et Chir., Par., 1882, XIX. 835, the reporter 

 being Dr. Josso. He states that the patient was bitten by 

 a viper between the tliumb and index finger, and that 

 when called to see her all the characteristic dangerous 

 symptoms of poisoning from snake venom were present, 

 notwithstanding that phenic acid had been freely used as a 

 supposed antidote. Having seen an account of the use of 

 jaborandi by the South Americans in snake bite, he 

 determined to give it a trial, and four grammes of the leaves 

 were infused in a glass of water and given at 2 P. M. of 

 the 13th inst., and on the 14th the patient was well with 

 the exception of pains in the arms and some swelling, 

 which lasted for three weeks after the accident. As 

 already stated, copious salivation and perspiration were 

 produced, but no mention is made of any action upon the 

 kidneys. As no other cases had been reported, and the 

 writer being aware that venom was supposed to be elimi- 

 nated by the skin and kidneys, he determined to examine 

 the subject thoroughly. The testimony, so far as could 

 be ascertained, is as follows: 



Dr. B. S. Barton in "An account of the most effective 

 means of preventing the deleterious consequences of the 

 bite of the Crotalus horridus or rattlesnake" (sm. 4to. 

 Phila., 1792), speaks of the use of the common garden 

 rue (Rata graveolens) as used by the Indians of New 

 Jersey to produce copious perspiration as a cure for 

 rattler's bite, giving two tablespoonf uls of the juice every 

 two hours until violent sweating was produced. The 

 author thinks it may have been of service. In some cases 

 after a bite a ligature wa3 applied above the injured 

 part, wound scarified, and salt and gimpowder laid in 

 the wotmd, over the whole was bound a piece of white 

 walnut bark (Juglans alba). Early settlers do this. The 

 salt and gunpowder excite a discharge of blood from the 

 scarified part, especially of serum, and the white walnut 

 bark possesses the evacuant pejwerof cantharides and con- 

 tributes to the further discharge of the serum and with 

 it the snake poison. He gives quite a long list of plants 

 which have been used and recommended. 



Dr. A. Coutance. in his work entitled "Venins et 

 Poisons," 8, Paris, 1888, p. 178-179, speaking of a dog bit- 

 ten to death by a fer de lance says: "A cubic centimeter 

 of urine from a dog, dead from the bite of a Trigonocepha- 

 lus was injected beneath the skin of a rat, which died 

 the next morning. The kidneys are therefore, as believed 

 by Lauder Brunton and Fayrer, a means by which ser- 

 pent venom is eliminated. Richard Balsamos killed 

 pigeons by inoculating them with the urine of dogs which 

 had been bitten in India by venomous sea snakes, but it 

 is a question if normal urine might not produce the same 

 effect by reason of the ptomaines contained therein." 



As some non-professional readers may care to know 

 what jaborandi is, and what effect is produced by it. the 

 following short summary is given: 



Jaborandi is an extract made from dry leaves of Pilo- 

 carpus pennatifolius> a South American plant, its proper- 

 ties being due to a volatile oil and two alkaloids, pilo- 

 carpine and jaborine. 



Dose: Extract, gr. ii-x. 



Dose: Infusion, f. oz. ss. 



Dose: Pilocarpine nit., gr. |-^s. 



Dose: Tincture of jaborandi, U. S. Ph. , f. oz. 



Dose: Ext. pilocarpi fl., M. 5-60. 



' 'Pilocarpine stimulates the peripheral terminations of 

 efferent nerves going to glands, and first stimulates and 

 then paralyzes the efferent nerves going to structures 

 composed of involuntary muscular fiber. In large doses 

 it lessens, but does not quite destroy, the irritability of 

 voluntary muscles and motive nerves." (Lauder Brun- 

 ton.) It increases flow of saliva enormously, the secre- 

 tion of sweat and excites the secretion of tears, cerumen 

 in ears, mucus from nose and from bronchial mucous 

 membrane, of gastric juice, intestinal juice and mine 

 from the kidneys. Upon the circulation: Vessels be- 

 come dilated at first, pulse rapid, feeling of heat over the 

 body. Blood pressure falls a little at first with quicker 

 pulse and rises with a slower pulse. Respiration is in- 

 creased, with dyspnoea. Is used as a cardiac stimulant 

 when digitalis fails." 



Now as will be seen from these statements, this South 

 American plant really seems to possess all those properties 

 which might be supposed necessary to constitute a true 

 physiological antidote to serpent venom, and so far as 

 our limited experiments go, there appears to be good 

 warrant for such a belief, as in all of our experiments 

 the so-called antidote was first tried on healthy animals 

 without producing any ill effects. The first experiment 

 was as follows: 



Nov, 28 — 12:20 A. M. — Injected 5 minims of solution rat- 

 tlesnake venom into left leg of strong rabbit, fol- 

 lowed immediately by 10 drops of fluid ext. jabor- 

 andi, in 10 drops of water; and 10 drops jaborandi 

 and ioz. water was forced into the animal's stomach 

 with a syringe. 

 2:30 P. M. — Animal slightly lame in the injected leg, 

 holds it up when walking; but eats well. 

 Nov. 89 — 11 A, M, — Animal still a little lame, slight swell- 

 ing and tenderness .of the injected leg — otherwise 

 seems to be in good condition. 

 Nov. 30 — 11 A. M. — Animal in about the same condition 



as yesterday — but improving. 

 Dec. 1 — 11 A. M. — Animal still slightly lame; a hard 



tumor formed at the seat of injection. 

 Dec. 2 — 11 A. M. — Aninial in same condition as yesterday; 



appetite normal. 

 Dec. 5— -Swelling entirely gone, animal perfectly well. 



It was noticed in this case that the animal urinated 

 freely and very frequently, and that the mouth and nos- 

 trils were very moist. Chickens and pigeons being pe- 

 culiarity susceptible to venom it was determined to try 

 the effect of the jaborandi upon them, and on 

 Dec. 3 — 12:30 P.M. — Injected 5 minims of Crotalus venom 

 into leg of chicken, followed by 10 minims of fl. 

 ext. jaborandi, in water, by the stomach. 

 1 P.M. — Chicken appeared not so well, lying down. 



Gave 10 minims more of jaborandi in stomach. 

 3 P.M. — Chicken standing up, and feathers drooping. 

 Does not seems very sick. 

 Dec. 5 — 10 A.M. — Chicken found dead, probably died 

 during the night as it was alive yesterday (Sun- 

 day) at 1 P.M. 

 In this case it may have been that not enough of the 

 jaborandi was given to overcome the double lethal dose 

 of the venom, but the experiment shows that life was 

 prolonged after a dose of venom which if allowed to 

 act Avithout hindrance would have destroyed life in 

 about two hours. Another experiment was tried upon 

 another fowl, a smaller dose of venom and a larger 

 amount of jaborandi being given, but the chicken only 

 lived two days. These two experiments would seem to 

 show that in the case of fowls poisoned by serpent venom 

 jaborandi has only the effect of prolonging life. To 

 verify the former experiment upon a rabbit it was re- 

 solved to again try the antidotal effect of the drug with 

 the following result. 



Dec. 5 — 12:05 P. M. — Injected 10 minims of rattlesnake 

 venom solution into right leg of rabbit, followed 

 by 15 minims of fl. ext. jaborandi; also gave 15 

 drops jaborandi, in water, in stomach. 



12:15 P. M. — Rabbit sluggish and indisposed to move. 

 Respiration hurried , and animal seems very sick. 



12:30 P. M. — Gave 15 minims more of jaborandi hypo- 

 dermically. 



Dec. 6— Rabbit appears perfectly well and is eating. 

 Copious discharge of serum from wounds made by 

 syringe, and a good deal of urination. 

 Dec. 8, — Rabbit appears perfectly well, but has a healthy 

 looking raw surface near point of injection on leg 

 which is healing. 

 Dec. 10— Rabbit well, excepting ulcer, which is healing. 

 Dec, 12 — Perfectly well. 



One more experiment was tried upon another rabbit, 

 in which a fourfold lethal dose of the venom was in- 

 jected, viz., 20 minims followed by 60 minims at intervals 

 of jaborandi, with GO by stomach, the animal recovering 

 perfectly, From the foregoing experiments with the 

 fluid extract of jaborandi it will be seen that while this 

 substance appears to have antidotal effects upon rabbits, 

 in fowls it fails, as has already been stated, but it is in- 

 tended to pursue this line of experimentation still further, 

 especially with the active principle known as pilocarpine. 

 It may be mentioned that a medical man of Washington 

 city is so convinced of the efficacy of the jaborandi that 

 he has offered himself for the purpose of an experiment 

 with venom, and in addition to this offer the writer has 

 received a communication from a person in Ohio also 

 proposing to submit to the test. Until we have experi- 

 mented further, however, the scientific devotion of these 

 gentlemen will not be tried. 



\mnt Jf## mtd 



HUNTING WITH A CAMERA. 



YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, April 30, 1S88. 

 — Editor Forest and Stream: I had long desired 

 to possess a photograph camera with which to take pic- 

 tures of game on their summer and winter feeding 

 grounds, and to preserve some of the many moving pan- 

 oramas of wild life in the mountains. The expense and 

 difficulty of procuring the instrument I wanted prevented 

 my attempting the feat until last spring, when I was sur- 

 prised and delighted to receive as a present from the 

 Forest and Stream Publishing Company a complete pho- 

 tographic outfit. 



Up to tliis winter I have been too busy to do much with 

 it, except to practice on different moving objects, just to 

 get the hang of the thing and learn how to shoot it at the 

 proper moment, and to overcome any tendency to "buck 

 fever" that I might show in the presence of large game. 

 In my hands a rifle has been a more familiar tool than a 

 camera. 1 find that one can get more excited over tak- 

 ing a picture of an elk or buffalo than he would be if 

 killing was the object. Often while hunting to kill I 

 would have preferred a picture of the game I have seen 

 to the meat. Many a hunter of large game would 

 rather have a photograph of groups of elk, deer, antelope, 

 sheep, buffalo and bear, and of the mountain scenes that 

 are familiar to him, than have the pleasure of killing. 

 On several recent hunts, therefore, I left my rifle at 

 home and took in its place the camera, and I think I have 

 been quite successful, having brought in some large bags 

 of game on glass, and that, too, in the National Park, 

 where killing game is not allowed, any one found with 

 game in then possession being promptly arrested. But 

 there is no objection to parties bringing in as many elk, 

 buffalo or deer on plates as they can obtain. 



Until I tried to get a photograph of game, I did not 

 realize the difficulties which one must overcome to get a 

 picture. To get a shot to kill is not difficult, as one 

 familiar with game can readily do it, so long as he can 

 get the range or as there is fight enough to see the sights 



of his rifle. It makes little difference where the sun is, 

 whether in your face, to one side, or at your back; or 

 whether it is cloudy or fair, snowing or raining, hot or 

 cold. It's all one to the killer whether the game is in the i 

 timber or an opening. Give a good killer the distance and 

 a fair show at game, and he will get the meat; but to the 

 photographer it is different, especially to an amateur. 



I first learned that while htmting I must carry the 

 camera set up, must have my object well lighted, and 

 that to obtain good pictures many other favorable condi- 

 tions must prevail. The thing I found most difficult 

 about it was to get the camera into position while close to 

 game without frightening it before I could focus on the 

 object and then put in plates and fire. Many times after 

 a hard bit of work getting to a favorable position, I would 

 have everything all ready, but the act of drawing the 

 slide or cocking the drop shutter for a shot would alarm 

 the animals, and before I could pull the trigger the game 

 would skip out, leaving me with a camera ready to take 

 a picture of the place where the game had been but a 

 second before; a picture about as satisfactory to a pho- 

 tographer as fine scenery and game sign is filling to a 

 hungry man. Or the game would be standing under the 

 sun with their dark side toward one, the wind blowing 

 from the hunter nearly toward the game, and when 

 everything was about ready the wind would whip around, 

 giving the annuals warning of the presence of supposed 

 danger, changing a scene of still life to one of very active 

 life, with buffalo, elk or deer running off in the back- 

 ground, and in the foreground an amateur photographer 

 with an instrument set up ready to make an exposure, a 

 disappointed expression on his face and a few blue streaks 

 in the air. 



To hunt game successfully requires the exercise of a 

 great amount of* patience; to get photographs of it requires 

 still more, as there is more to contend with. It requires i 

 but a second to bring a rifle in position and fire; if you i 

 kill that is enough, but often the picture will show up 

 poorly on the plate even when one has done everything 

 possible. I have pictures of which my friends would say, 

 " Now, if you could only have had them (the game) in 

 the opening." Yes ! but they were not there, so I took 

 them where I found them, and was glad to have the op- 

 portunity to get a picture at all. 



My first game picture was of elk. After tramping most 

 of the day over high and rough mountains, we came on 

 to a band of nine, seven of which were in the opening, 

 one in the edge of the timber and one in the willows on 

 the creek (Black Tail Deer Creek). They were 150yds. 

 off, and down hill at an angle of 45°. If I had the camera 

 level I could not get them on the ground glass, so I 

 tipped it up until I could see the elk. They showed up ' 

 about as large as fleas in the picture. The angle at which 

 I set the camera made the background look level. I 

 wanted to get into a point of timber below the elk, but 

 the wind was wrong, and, when I was on the high ridge, 

 was blowing a gale. So I decided to make an exposure \ 

 from where I was, trusting that the objects would look a 

 little larger when developed; they did grow a little, I '. 

 think, but smaller, showing up less in size than good . 

 healthy fleas. I found other elk, but none to get a pic- 

 ture or. My next picture was of a blacktail buck. I 

 came on him as he w r as trotting across a ridge, making 

 for timber to my right. There were two inches of new 

 snow on the ground. Working as fast as possible, I saw 

 that I would not get my camera ready before he got out 

 of sight. As he had not seen me, I bleated to stop him, 

 a thing we often do to get a standing shot. He stopped 

 and turned, and just as he was about to bound off I fired, 

 securing his picture. We ran on to him several times, 

 too far off to make him useful, but near enough to have 

 given us good shots with a rifle. He would watch us for 

 a long time, debating, I think, in his mind what new 

 kind of hunters we were that made no noise, and went 

 through such queer antics around a three-legged gun. 

 He would trot off to a high point, and watch again, un- 

 til we would get within two hundred yards, then off he 

 would go again to keep watch of us. This he did for 

 over an hour. 



My next view was of an antelope. For fear I would 

 not get them I guessed at the distance, loaded and cocked 

 the camera for a shot, slowly Orought it up and fired 

 when I had the range. I had come to the conclusion that 

 I could not select locations, but would fire at all the game 

 I saw, getting my focus by guess. In this way I bagged 

 a young cow elk. I got the elk, but fell a little short on 

 distance. I also took a picture of a young elk hi its spot- 

 ted coat. This I tied to a sage brush, but fogged the 

 plate by not having the cloth o ver the breach of the cam- 

 era. I even attacked some trout in a pool of clear water. 

 They showed up well on the ground glass, but I got 

 nothing on the plate but shadows of trout, a very unsat- 

 isfactory dish. 



In March I started out to secure a few pictures of the 

 buffalo I had seen in the Park the year before, a few 

 having been seen this year by the scout, Wilson. I had 

 with me one companion, Peter Henderson, an old moun- 

 taineer, who consented to go with me for the pleasure of 

 the trip. We were unable to pack a camp outfit in ad- 

 dition to the camera, plates, etc., and were therefore 

 obliged to confine our explorations to within a few miles 

 of the hotels in the Park. We were out sixteen days. 

 On thirteen of them it stormed, three were clear. We 

 visited the Lower Geyser Basin and vicinity, saw a great 

 deal of animal and bird life, but no bison, and only one 

 fresh track — that near the Perpetual Geyser. Elk were 

 in the Basin, the first I have ever known to winter there. 

 The Fire Hole, Gibbon, Nez Perce Creek and other 

 streams were full of geese and ducks. At Norris Geyser 

 Basin I exposed some plates on a "warm corner" of the 

 Basin, where the heat of the ground melts the snow as 

 fast as it falls. The snow accumulates on all the detached 

 rocks, logs, trees and stumps, and as it gets deep it settles 

 down and often hangs over the object that supports it 

 like a hood. The snow on the rocks here was some SJ-ft. 

 deep. On the ground there were many green plants 

 growing through the coldest weather, and when the 

 picture was taken one plant was in bloom, showing 

 small yellow flowers. None of the plants were high, all 

 hugged the warm ground. Where a few grasses had 

 ventured up into the cold ah they had their blades nipped 

 by the frost. Throughout the Park there are many such 

 warm places, where no snow ever lies, where green plants 

 can be found growing all winter. In and around all the 

 Geyser basins, where there are streams of hot water, one 

 can see two ribbons of green along the stream, then on 

 each side a ribbon of dead grass, with the snow close up 



