Dec. 1, 1900.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
399 
to enable them to bear, . one hour afterwa^s 
without their being intoxicated, a^ose oflmi^ 
ligramme of dry venom of cobra capdla of a^edium 
activity, said dose sufficient to kill proof labbits 
in less than four hours. . ■, • ^,-«;,.!pnt 
Therapeutical Action. -If mjected in sufflcienc 
Quantity to persons bitten by snakes, the anti 
^enomoL se?um will prevent the f ects o the 
venom providing intoxication is not too tai aa 
vis. It must be injected , as soon as possible 
after the bite. Generally iis "^tervent.on is stai 
verv efficacious an hour and a half after tHe Dire 
S aduHs who rarely die but three hou^ attei 
the bite of the most dangerous species of snakes. 
^'^Tl'e serum is active against the venom of all 
species of snakes existing m the anc ent and new 
world. It has been experimented with the ^ enomb 
of the cobra capeUa and ^'^^'f/T^^''/'^ °f.„^f; f| 
the naja haje and cerastes /ndies the 
of America, the bothrops of the West-Indies the 
varieties of ijseudechis and ho2^locephalus ot Aus 
tralia and the vipers of Europe. 
The dose to employ varies according to the 
species of the biting snake, the age of the peison 
bitten and the time of the intervention. 
Generally 10 cubic centimeters are sufficient tor 
children under 10 years and 20 cubic centimeteis 
for adults. However, when the bite comesfrona a 
very dangerous species, such as the cobra capel a 
the naia haie, the crotalus, the bothrops of the 
West Indies, it will be prudent to make one single 
injection at first of a double dose. „ . 
'Treatment of Venomous toES.-The first ^ 
fantiDn to take is to surround tightly the bitten 
Hmb as near as possible to the bite and between 
th^ latte? and the trunk, with a strip or hand- 
The'^^ound will have to be washed with a solu- 
tion of hypochlorite ot lime diluted to 1 gramme 
or 60 ofTater previously boiled, titling between 
0 lit. 800 to 0 lit. 900 of chlorme per 1,000 cubic 
''"SosTof serum --^t be injected in l^.e sub- 
cutaneous cellulary tissue in the right 01 left side 
of the belly, and with the usual antiseptical 
''Then! with the same syringe, 8 or 10 cubic cen- 
timeters of the solution 1/60 of hypochlorite of 
Itoe will be injected altogether, but in the dilTer- 
Xartfe surroimding the'bite and in the passage 
of said bite. These injections are intenrtert to 
destroy, there, the venom which has not yet been 
""^From'^hat time, the strip can be taken away 
from the limb ; the patient must be fnctioned and 
cof^e or tea be administered, and he be covered 
warmly so as to nrovoke an abundant perspiration 
The administration of ammonia or alcohol must 
be avoided ; it would only be injurious both to 
fhe pa ient'and to the treatment by tbe serum 
It is also unnecessary to cauterise the bitten 
limb either by red iron or chemical substances. 
TMPORTAl^T.— Drs. making use of the above 
serum are earnestly requested to communicate 
the Results oMained by its aPPj ^^tion to Doctor 
A CALMETTE, Directeur de 1 Institut Pasteur 
de Lille (Nord ).-Pasieitr's Institute of Lille. 
and, so long as the calling be an honorable 
one, are not fastidiovis as to the source from 
which they can derive an income. It has 
alre-idy been shown how valuable an adjunct 
vanilla would be to the main industry— tea. 
Another product suggests itself, viz. : Aloe 
Fibre. There are thousands of acres in Ceylon 
suited to its cultivation. Once planted it 
requires little or no attention. Its market 
value certainly fluctuates considerably, but 
there is always a margin for profit. At the 
outbreak of th» Spanish-American War it 
rose to over £30 per ton ; its present value 
is from £22 to £23. The cost of cutting, 
carriage, grafting, baling, &c., is about R140 
per ton — freight and London charges £6 per 
ton. It will be seen from these figures that, 
at its present price, there isja profit of about 
RlOe per ton. 
i^gain, with coconut oil at our doors, why 
are there no Soap factories ? With coconut 
oil as the basis, a good household soap could 
be manufactured in Colombo for about R250 
per ton. For anyone "in the know" there 
is a fortune in soap-making in Ceylon. 
K. H. E. 
[And yet our big Oil Mills, that used to 
manufacture soap regularly, could only find a 
marketby exporting toCalcuttaandMauritius, 
though we imported about two hundred 
thousand rupees' worth a year, the figures 
being R269,340 of soap last year ! And now 
the local manufacture is abandoned. — Aloe- 
growing has been tried, but the labour of 
preparing the fibre ran away with the profit, 
in the case of planters in the Kurunegala and 
Uva districts. —Ed. T A.] 
MINOR INDUSTRIES : 
VANILLA; ALOE FIBRE; AND SOAP. 
{Communicated. ) 
In the good old days when Coffee was 
king, the Ceylon planter scouted the idea ot 
making money by minor industries. To have 
done so would have been to place himselt 
without the pale of civilised society. But 
the collapse of coffee taught a salutary lesson. 
Planters are wiser in the present generation ; 
PLANTING NOTES. 
Fatal Snakebite.— The lamentable death 
ot one of Mr. Oliver's Chief Assistant En- 
gineers on the Northern Railway from snake- 
bite, breaks through the record that for 60 
years no death of a European from this 
cause has occurred in Ceylon. The greatest 
sympathy is due to the young widow, 
and other relatives at home. Mr. levers 
should see to it that Jaffna— Hindu temples 
and all— are cleared of cobras if it be true 
they are encouraged for some reason. Let 
a license fee be imposed, and there will be 
no protection, or a reward be offered for 
every snake's head brought to the Kach- 
cheri. 
Scientific Cultivation.— Ceylon tea and 
other planters will be interested in the fol- 
lowing extract from a letter received by us 
from Mr. Joseph Eraser :— 
■'I visited both the Kothamsted and Dahneny 
manuring Held experiments and found much tliat 
was interesting and suggestive. Those directing 
the Dalmeny experiments are strong on the need 
of getting the land into condition favourable for 
tliei growth and development of the nitrifying 
organisms and where leeuniinous crops are beitic; 
raised, to the conditions, favourable, i" f'<' 
microbes involved, in the fixation of tree niiiogei.s 
through the root nodules. Tlie whole resultt 
are being drawn np for publication in pamphlea 
form, and form what I gathered when there, tlij 
details whpn worked out will be of great practica, 
value," 
