TREATMENT OF SNAKE-BITES 
355 
snake-poisons. These efforts have produced the 
now celebrated anti-venomous serum, discovered 
by Dr. Calmette, of the Pasteur Institute of Lille, 
France. It is obtained by very gradually inject- 
ing cobra-venom into the flesh of a living domestic 
animal, and giving Nature time to counteract the 
poison by her own methods. Eventually the sub- 
ject becomes immune to these injections, and 
produces within itself a product which when in- 
jected into other animals renders them immune. 
This material, now popularly known as anti- 
venine, is prepared in large quantities, and sent 
all over the civilized world for use against ani- 
mal poisons generally. 
Aside from the use of the antitoxin referred 
to, the key-notes of the treatment of a snake- 
bitten patient are, bleeding the wound, isolation 
of the bitten part if it be possible, the applica- 
tion of an antidote, and stimulation. In case 
of an accident, the regular medical treatment 
appears to be about as follows: 
1. Cut cross the wound, or stab it, and compel 
it to bleed freely. 
2. Tie a ligature, of cloth, rope or string, 
around the bitten member, above the wound, to 
keep back, as long as possible, the poisoned blood 
from the veins of the body. 
3. If anti-venomous serum is at hand, inject 
it according to the directions which accompany 
it. 
4. Give any alcoholic stimulant that may be 
available, in small doses, at frequent intervals; 
but remember that a quantity of any strong 
stimulant will do more harm than good, and may 
actually hasten complete paralysis, and death. 
Ammonia is of very little use, if any; and its use 
depends so much upon conditions that it should 
be employed only by a physician. 
5. If the serum is not available, inject directly 
into the wound, as quickly as possible after the 
accident, a solution of chromic acid, or perman- 
ganate of potash, 1 to 100, and see to it that the 
hypodermic needle penetrates to the bottom of 
each wound. In the absence of a syringe, bathe 
the wound with the solution. 
6. Having done all possible at the wound it- 
self, then give hypodermic injections, on leg or 
arm, of “15 to 20 minims of liquid strychnine, 
every 20 minutes, until slight tetanic spasms 
appear.” (Stejneger.) 
7. The ligature must be loosened from time 
to time, to permit a limited circulation of fresh 
blood, or mortification will ensue. 
8. If medical aid is within reach, it should be 
procured as speedily as possible, but in most 
cases, the life of the patient depends upon what 
is done for him during the first hour following the 
accident. 
Mr. Gruber’s Treatment. — A practical 
method by which to escape death from the bite 
of a rattlesnake can be learned of Mr. Peter Gru- 
ber, of Rochester New York, who has been bitten 
about twenty times. His method of treating 
himself was described, to the writer as follows : 
“I no longer suck the venom from a wound. 
Unless a man’s mouth is in very perfect condi- 
tion, it is dangerous. My first act is to take my 
knife, and cut a slit an inch and a half long 
straight from my body into the wound, and con- 
tinue it the same distance beyond; and I make 
these two cuts bleed freely. This is to make the 
poisoned blood flow out of my veins, instead of 
farther into them, to poison my whole system. 
After the wound has bled as much as I think it 
should, I inject the permanganate above and 
around the wound. The proper proportion is 
one five-grain tablet of permanganate of potash 
dissolved in two ounces of water, and I inject 
about thirty minims — the capacity of a hypo- 
dermic syringe — about three times around and 
above the wound. I always have it ready, and 
I bathe the wound with this solution, using ab- 
sorbent cotton to cover the wound so that it is 
not exposed to the air. 
“During this time I take two or three small 
doses of whiskey, — but not much. After the 
permanganate has had a chance to take effect, 
I bathe the wound freely with a solution of two 
ounces of laudanum and two ounces of Goulard’s 
extract in two quarts of water, and keep it moist 
with this until all unnatural colors leave it. And 
I drink quantities of milk — all I can swallow. 
After a time my stomach ejects it, and at first it 
comes up the color of snake venom. But I con- 
tinue to take milk, again and again, until I am 
sure my stomach has been washed free from the 
poison. If the action of my heart grows weak, 
I inject strychnine into my arms with a hypo- 
dermic syringe.” 
Mr. Gruber bears on his forearms and hands a 
number of scars, as ocular proof of the success of 
his method in the treatment of rattlesnake bites. 
