77 
who died hy the Bite of a Rattle-snake. 
quantity of aqua ammonias puree were given in water. At 
half past eight it was repeated. At nine o’clock he had the 
feeling of great depression, his skin was cold, his pulse weak, 
beating 80 strokes in a minute. The dose was increased to 
fifty drops of both medicines, and repeated. At a quarter past 
ten o’clock the pain had become very violent in the arm : his 
pulse was stronger, but fits of faintness attack him every fif- 
teen minutes, in which the pulse was not perceptible, but in 
the interval his spirits were less depressed. In the course of 
the evening he had two stools. At half past eleven o’clock I 
first saw him. The hand, wrist, forearm, and arm were much 
swelled up to the top of the shoulder, and into the axilla. 
The arm was quite cold, and no pulse could be felt in any 
part, not even in the axilla, the swelling preventing me from 
feeling the axillary artery with any degree of accuracy. The 
wounds made on the thumb were just perceptible ; those on 
the finger were very distinct. His skin generally was 
unusually cold. I took some pains to diminish his alarm of 
danger, and found his mind perfectly collected : he said he 
hoped he should recover. At one o’clock in the morning of 
the 18th, he talked indistinctly: his pulse beat 100 in a mi- 
nute ; the attacks of faintness came on occasionally. The 
medicine was repeated every hour. 
At eight o’clock in the morning of the 18th, his pulse beat 
132 strokes in a minute, and was very feeble. The swelling 
had not extended beyond the shoulder to the neck, but there 
was a fulness down the side, and blood was extravasated 
under the skin as low as the loins, giving the back on the right 
side a mottled appearance. The whole arm and hand was 
cold, but painful when pressed ; the skin was very tense ; on 
