64 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Aug. 16, 1888, 



PROPOSED NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL 

 PARK. 



WE published last week a small map showing the re- 

 lation to Washington City of the area chosen for 

 the proposed National Zoological Park, should Congress 

 authorize its establishment. This week we give a larger 

 map of this area, which is seen to be greatly diversified, and 

 admirably fitted for the purpose for which it has been 

 chosen. The broad stream which flows through this tract 

 insures an abundant supply of pure water, a large part of 

 the area is timbered or overgrown with heavy brush wood, 

 and a rocky cliff 80ft. in height rises on one side of the 

 creek. The contour lines, 20ft. apart, show the undula- 

 tions of the surface. If, as is to be hoped, Congress shall 

 assent to the bill establishing this park, the region se- 

 lected seems to present all the necessary advantages for 

 a zoological park. 



RATTLESNAKE VENOM ANTIDOTE. 



BALTIMORE, Md , July 22.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 Apropos of Dr. Caruthers's article on cure for snake- 

 bite in your issue of July 19 I note in the June number of 

 Medical Classics that "Dr. Briggs of Fort Worth, Texas, 

 says that the charm weed of the Indians, which they use 

 in the bites of venomous insects and reptiles is the 

 Lycopus virginicus, or bugle weed. A decoction of the 

 leaves is taken internally, an ounce to the pint, a tea- 



spoonful every hour, and applied externally." Have any 

 experiments that you know of ever been made with this 

 plant ? Feed. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I take the liberty of sending you this clipping from the 

 New York World. It is a remedy of which I have heard, 

 in two cases of snake bites, in which a cure was effected. 



New York. J. S. Conlin. 



The World report comes from J. D. Legg, of Long Eddy, 

 N. Y., who relates the case of Acden Davis, of Damascus, Pa. 

 Davis was bitten, about dark, by a large rattlesnake in the 

 ball of the thumb. "He hurried to the house and had a 

 strong cord drawn tightly around his thumb to prevent the 

 circulation of the blood as much as possible into and from 

 the wound and thus check the spread of the poison. A horse 

 was speedily hitched to a wagon and he was rapidly driven 

 to the office of Dr. S. A. Kemp, at Callicoon Depot. 



"Having seen in the World a few years since a description 

 of the remedy for rattlesnake bites as used by the Geer family 

 at Long Eddy, N. Y., Dr. Kemp made careful investigation 

 of the matter and became convinced of the truth of the 

 statements therein made, and that the remedy was indeed 

 all that was claimed for it. He therefore advised young 

 Davis to drive to John Greer's as quickly as possible, biit first 

 to partake freely of rye whisky. A bottle of this liquor was 

 obtained and tb e horse's head turned in the direction of Long 

 Eddy, distant eleven miles. It was now late in the night 

 and, as the moon was down, very dark. The road was a 

 rough one, but by careful and rapid driving as possible the 

 dwelling of John Geer, the famous rattlesnake catcher, was 

 reached before daylight. 



By this time, in spite of the tightly drawn cord around 

 his thumb, the poison had made its way into the hand, wrist 

 and arm, which were badly swollen. Davis had taken but 

 two small drinks of the liquor and Geer promptly forbade 

 the use of more, saying its effects would be to increase the 

 circulation of the blood and thus spread the poison more 

 rapidly. 



"The effects of the poison seemed not to be entirelv con- 

 fined to the hand and arm, but in some way was affecting the 

 stomach. He had several severe vomiting spells, after which 

 he spit blood freely. 



"Fortunately Geer knew right where to get the violet, a 

 sovereign remedy for the bite of a rattlesnake, and. lighting 

 a lantern, in five minutes' time had Davis eating its leaves. 

 He then applied salt and indigo to the wound, first taking 

 off the tightly drawn cord, which, however, had probably 

 done good service in preventing the more rapid spread of the 

 poison. Davis soon began to feel better. The pain, which 

 was great, when he first came, soon ceased. The stomach 

 sickness also left him, and, lying down, he slept for an hour, 

 when Geer awakened him to give more of the violet and 

 apply a fresh poultice of the indigo and salt. 



"The swelling began to diminish, but he complained of a 

 feeling of numbness that pervaded his hand, arm and 

 shoulder, which, however, was soon succeeded by an intense 

 prickling sensation that Geer ascribed to the action of the 

 properties of the violet in overcoming the effects of the poison. 

 At the end of twelve hours from the time he came to Mr. 

 Geer's, Davis started to walk home, though the swelling had 

 not yet entirely disappeared. Thinking he might be kept 

 for several days, he had sent his horse home. Geer gave him 

 a quantity of the remedy, cautioned him to walk slowlv, not 

 to go to work, but use the medicine till the swelling was 

 en tirely gone, and assured him he was as safe from all evil 

 effects of the snake-bite as he could wish to be. 



'This remedy has been known and used in this place and 

 vicinity for over eighty years. It was first obtained by Joseph 

 Geer (John's father) from a half-breed Delaware Indian 

 named .John Johnson, who used in 1800 to occupy a hut on 

 the Pennsylvania side of the river opposite Long Eddy, and 

 who for a pint of whisky would let a rattlesnake bite him 

 and then cure himself with it. It is as follows: 



"Apply to the wound a poultice one-half each of common 

 salt and indigo, mixed with cold water, and renew every two 

 hours. Eat treely of the leaves, or drink often of a tea made 

 from them, of a variety of the blue violet (P. saqtttata) com- 

 monly known as the "arrow-leaved" violet. If the bite be 

 upon the leg or arm, bind the leaves in a circle around it 

 above and just beyond the swelling. Moisten with cold 

 water as often as they get dry from the fever created by the 

 poison and renew two or three times a day." 



Virginia foxhounds have a reputation second to none. We 

 are informed that those advertised by Mr. Lewis are of the rieht 

 sort.— Adv. 



mu nnd §m\. 



Antelope and Deer of America. By J. D. Oaton. 

 Price $2.50. Wing and Glass Ball Shooting with the 

 Rifle. By W. C. Bliss. Price 50 cents. Rifle, Rod and 

 Gun in California. By T. S. Van Dyke. Price SI. 50. 

 Shore Birds. Price 50 cents. Woodcraft. By li Ness- 

 muk." PHce $1. Trajectories of Hunting Rifles. Price 

 50 cents. The Still-Hunter. By T. S. Van Dyke. Price $V. 



A DAY WITH THE BLACK BUCK. 



PLACE: The city of Lahore, in the far away land of 

 the five waters — city of Moslem dome and minaret, 

 and of Hindoo and Sikh temples. Time: Four o'clock 

 in the afternoon of a genial October day, in the year of 

 grace 1887; the first day in the season that I had discarded 

 my punkah loallahs, and drawn a breath of relief at the 

 thought that the fierce heat of summer was over for an- 

 other year and the joyous life in the tented field awaiting 

 me. 



On this pleasant October day, at 4 o'clock in the after- 

 noon or thereabouts, I had got through my office work, 

 and was affixing my signature to some vernacular corre- 

 spondence which my head munshi laid before me for the 

 purpose, when there entered a gorgeously liveried, bushy- 

 bearded old chuprassi of my acquaintance, who, with a 

 low reverence, announced "A letter from the Doctor Sahib 

 to Your Highness." 



The work in hand completed and the munshi dismissed, 

 I opened the missive and read: 



"Dear A. — Come over and dine with us this evening-. 

 There is a German here, just come in from Cashmere with 

 a wagonload of heads and hides and horns, and he wants 

 to add a black buck's head to the collection. He says he 

 must leave Lahore to-morrow night, but I have told him 

 that you know the haunts of all the game in the province, 

 and can station him within a hundred yards of a black 

 buck's tail, if there is such an appendage wagging any- 

 where within a day's journey of Lahore." 



To this I replied, "All right. Tell your friend I will 

 have the horses marched out to-night, and that we too 

 must leave by the 10 o'clock train to admit of our being 

 on the grounds in the early morning." 



Then calling my bearer I told him to have the gray and 

 roan saddled, and marched down to Metari, about sixteen 

 miles distance on the railroad line to Amritsun. In days 

 gone by, I had traveled in the cars of this line, and more 

 than once shot a black buck from the window as I passed, 

 and on arrival at the next station sent back my shikaree to 

 pick him up. The antelope are now rarely seen near the 

 line; too many hunting parties have gone out from the 

 military station of Meean Meer and harassed them, but 

 they have only gone a few miles back, and the back 

 country is as familiar to me as that along the line. 



I met the German at dinner, and thinking of the mount 

 I had provided him, was pleased to note that he was a 

 light weight. He was a slight, well proportioned man of 

 about thirty, with the traditional fair hair and steely blue 

 eyes of the Teuton race, clear glancing eyes they were 

 too, and his general soldierly bearing left me no doubt 

 that he had been trained to the saddle, and that if we 

 ,could start a black buck in the open there would be some 

 hard riding. 



The Doctor and his wife, Von Billow (the traveler) and 

 myself made up the party at dinner, and after I had dis- 

 burdened myself to the'effect that we could hardly fail 

 to put up a black buck between daylight and noon, the 

 conversation turned principally on Cashmere, Von 

 Billow, under pressure, giving us some of his experience 

 as an ibex hunter during the three months he had spent 

 in the valley and surrounding hills. After dinner our 

 hostess went to the piano and gave us two or three of 

 Schubert's songs, Von Billow followed with Lutzow's 

 "Ghostly Huntsman" and some other popular songs, and 

 at 9 o'clock I sent him off to dress for the field, took him 



