OTHER METHODS OF TREATMENT 



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(b) That hypodermic injections of adrenalin be used to constrict 

 the peripheral vessels and to stimulate the vasomotor centre. 



In both colubrine and viperine poisons it is obvious that the cir- 

 culation should also be maintained by the applications of warmth, 

 by stimulants, either alcoholic or ammoniacal, or by strychnine 

 hypodermically. 



Summary.— I. Apply proximal ligature. 



2. Freely open the cellular tissue in the vicinity of the bite. 



3. Wash the wound well with a strong solution of permanganate 

 of potash (3 per cent.), or apply crystals. 



4. Inject ICQ c.c. of fresh antivenene intravenously. 



5. Artificial respiration, if necessary. 



6. Keep up the circulation by binders to abdomen, bandages to 

 legs, stimulants, and hypodermic injections of strychnine. 



Other Methods of Treatment. 



other methods of treatment which may be briefly mentioned are : — 



Snake-Stones. — The cure which is strongly beheved in by the native is the 

 snake-stone. These stones are smooth, highly poHshed, very light, black 

 bodies, said to consist of calcined animal bone soaked several times with blood, 

 and calcined after each soaking. It is easy to understand that these stones are 

 very hygroscopic, and when applied to a wound, cling tightly, and suck up 

 fluids, and perhaps some poison. There are supposed to be three kinds of 

 stones: — (i) Those composed of burnt bone; (2) those composed of chalk; 

 (3) those composed of burnt vegetal substance. Of these three only the first 

 is considered of value. 



The method of use is as follows: — -Puncture the wounds of the snake-bite 

 slightly, and apply the stone, which adheres for about two minutes, and 

 should then drop o:ff into a vessel of water, after which it should be dried by 

 a cloth, and applied again to the wound, when it will adhere for about a 

 minute. It should be applied a third time. During application the limb 

 should be rubbed towards the stone. The stones are used principally in India 

 and Ceylon, but they are also known in Mexico as ' piedra ponsona.' It is 

 hardly necessary to say that from the days of Redi it has been shown how 

 useless these stones are. 



Exorcism of the poison by shouting charmed verses is used in India. 

 Numerous plants, seeds, earth moistened with urine, etc., have been extolled 

 as cures. 



Ammonia. — Of all the old remedies ammonia has lived the longest, and it 

 is alraost incredible that Fontana settled the question as to its lack of utility 

 by his experiments on vipers more than 130 years ago. Whether given by 

 the mouth, injected subcutaneously, or into a vein, it is useless, except as a 

 stimulant, when it is certainly of no more use than alcohol. Fayrer has shown 

 that if Uquor ammoniae is mixed in more than equal parts with venom, it does 

 not destroy the poison. 



Oils. — It is extraordinary how the remedies of the Middle Ages are clung 

 to, and oil is still used, though known to be useless since the days of Morgagni. 



Strychnine. — Many years ago Duncan recommended strychnine as a remedy 

 for East Indian snake-bites. Recently Miiller of Victoria, Australia, has 

 strongly recommended the hypodermic injection of this drug. He says that 

 never less than grain is to be used, and this must be increased in urgent 

 cases to J or \, and repeated every fifteen or twenty minutes, until the symp- 

 toms of snake-poisoning are removed. If a fang has perforated a vein, he 

 recommends intravenous injection instead of subcutaneous. The patient 

 must be watched for twenty-four hours after the disappearance of the last 

 symptoms, in order to combat a sudden relapse. Colonel Duke, in 1895, 

 highly recommends this remedy. 



