390 
EFFECTS OF THE BITE OF A SNAKE, 
actual experiment made on peat soil, it was found that tur¬ 
nips, during the period of their growth, made an average 
daily increase of 15,990 times the weight of the seeds from 
which they sprang.” 
{To be continued .) 
EFFECTS OF THE BITE OF A SNAKE ON MAN, 
THE HORSE, AND A DOG. 
Communication from “A Subscriber.” 
India; March 12th, 1861. 
Gentlemen,— Cases such as the following are, compa¬ 
ratively speaking, of such rare occurrence that I doubt not 
you will deem them sufficiently interesting for insertion in 
the pages of the Veterinarian. 
On the 10th inst., about 8 a.m., my farrier-major rode over 
in a hurry to report that a troop-horse had just been brought 
to hospital in consequence of a snake having bitten him in 
the mouth. I went to see the horse at once, and on examining 
his mouth found that the snake had bitten him in the centre 
of the tongue, about three inches from its tip. The tongue 
and lips were then considerably swollen, and the former of a 
deep-blue colour. The accident had happened about half an 
hour before I saw 7 the horse. I immediately scarified the 
wound very freely with a lancet, and applied Liquor Ammon, 
to it ; at the same time I administered a large dose of it inter¬ 
nally, and had the horse moved about, as he showed symptoms 
of drowsiness. The local application of Liq. Ammon. w 7 as 
repeated several times during the day, and a dose of Ammon. 
Sesquicarb. administered every quarter of an hour, for three 
hours afterwards. In the afternoon, how 7 ever, the animal 
became worse; his breathing w*as accelerated; the pulse 
quick and full; the mucous membranes injected ; expression 
of face anxious, and he moved about in his stall very 
uneasily, sometimes running his head into a corner, at others 
backing his tail into one: this stage was succeeded by a 
comatose one. I had diffusible stimulants administered, 
both by the mouth and per rectum, but the patient gradually 
got more stupid until he could not be kept on his legs, and 
he died quietly and without a struggle at 3 a.m. the next 
morning, that is, in tw r enty hours from the time he was 
bitten. I ought to mention that there w 7 as constant haemor- 
rhage from the tongue and ?nucous membrane of the mouth 
(buccal membrane) during all the time the horse w r as ill. 
