78 
OF THE EFFECTS OF THE POISON 
quent; the Europeans in India being less exposed to accidents from serpents, than the natives: and the 
natives, on similar occasions, either have recourse to nostrums of their own, or to the prayers of the Bramins. 
The Sepoys, however, afford a wide field for observation ; and in the territories of the Company, the surgeon 
of the settlement would seldom be denied such access to persons bitten, of whatsoever rank, as might at least 
enable him to describe the course of the disease: but opportunities of information must be sought for: not 
left merely to chance. 
The great desideratum is materials for a medical history of the disease proceeding from the bite of poisonous 
serpents: in which view every case, if faithfully related, (whether remedies have or have not been applied, 
whether it terminates happily or fatally;) becomes of importance; even very defective cases, and transient 
remarks, are not without utility; as in combination with more complete narratives, they may conduce to the 
improvement of the proposed history. 
But progress towards such improvement, can only be expected from the united exertions of gentlemen in 
the different situations in India; and it will admit of little doubt, that a general resolution to communicate 
their respective observations to the Medical Board, would prove the means of preserving many valuable 
materials, which are irrecoverably dispersed, or lost, from the want of a public repository. 
Having premised these general observations, which are submitted to the consideration of the faculty in 
India, I shall produce, as a specimen, the little I myself have been able to collect on the subject: considering 
it merely as the slender beginning of a collection of medical facts, to be enriched hereafter, by the future 
communications of others. 
The two following cases were communicated to me by Mr. Duffin, in January, 1788. 
Case I.-“ A Malabar woman was bitten in the small of the leg, by a Cobra de Capello. I saw her 
about ten hours after the accident. She had lost her senses of seeing, and feeling; and deglutition was so 
much impeded, that hardly any thing could be got to pass into the stomach. No other parts were visibly 
affected by spasms; but a torpor and listlessness pervaded the whole system, and from the moment of the 
bite, had continually increased. 
“ With some difficulty, I got her to swallow one Tanjore pill. The wound was dilated, and dressed with 
mercurial ointment. 
“ The pill producing no sensible operation, a second was given, at the distance of three hours, but, like 
the former, it had no effect. After waiting four hours longer, a third pill was given, which operated gently 
by stool, and produced a general moisture upon the skin. 
“ After this, that is in about eighteen hours from the bite, she gradually recovered her feeling and her sight, 
and could swallow more freely. 
“ A pill was given every morning, for the three succeeding days, without occasioning any sensible operation, 
except a nausea, and a diaphoresis. She remained weakly eight or ten days; and then recovered without any 
other remedy.” 
Case II.- (i Some months after the above accident, a private soldier of the third regiment, named Peter 
Francis, was bitten by what the natives call Viriyen Pambu, a small brown snake.* The bite was in the 
middle finger of his left hand, and before I saw him, he had used the precaution of tying a string round the 
finger above the wound, to stop the circulation. It was not more than a quarter of an hour from the bite, 
that he got one pill, and the wound was dressed as in the former case. Upon dilating the wound, a desert- 
spoonfull of blackish coloured blood issued out; and instantly upon untying the string from the finger, he 
complained of a violent pain, shooting upwards to his shoulder, with a sensation of burning all along 
his arm. 
“ The man was then sent to the barracks under the care of his comrade, who was provided with directions, 
and two more pills, to be given if necessary. 
* See Descriptions, No. IV. 
