EFFECTS OF THE BITE OF A SNAKE. 
391 
The post-mortem examination revealed nothing particular 
beyond injection of all the mucous and serous membranes, 
and slight but general congestion of the vessels of the 
thoracic and abdominal viscera. 
The snake that had bitten the horse was shown to me. It 
was about two feet in length, and some two inches in circum¬ 
ference at its thickest part, with a wide, flat head, and in 
colour white along the belly, and mottled gray down the 
back and sides; in fact, one of the snakes which are very 
common in this part of India. The reptile had crept in 
among the grass placed before the horse, and had been taken 
into his mouth while feeding. It was crushed and killed by 
the horse’s teeth, but not before it had given the fatal bite. 
In August last a dog of mine was bitten in the face by 
a snake, exactly the same kind as the one above described, 
but a little larger. I happened, however, to be present at the 
time, and instantaneously scarified the wound, and applied 
and administered brandy until the arrival of the Ammonia 
for which I sent, when I pursued the same treatment as in 
the case of the horse. The dog is now alive, but it was very 
nearly dying at the time. It became painfully thin and 
emaciated, and could not eat anything for days after the bite. 
I was ultimately obliged to have it spoon-fed with arrow- 
root, broth, &c., to recruit its strength. It is now as fat and 
jolly as ever it was. 
During the month of July last a syce (native groom) of 
mine was bitten in the fourth toe of the left foot by a snake 
of the same kind. He, like a true native, at once squatted 
down on the ground, began to howl and cry, and resigned 
himself to “ fate.” I, however, got four other men to carry 
him off to the hospital at once, where he was immediately 
attended to, and treated much in the same way as I treated 
the horse and my dog. The man recovered, and is now all 
right, but he, like the dog, became a perfect skeleton in two 
or three days after being bitten. 
In both of these latter cases there was incessant passive 
haemorrhage from the wound itself, and from the gums and 
mucous membrane of the mouth, and also occasional vomit¬ 
ing of blood: this state of things lasting for four or five 
days. 
If, gentlemen, you or any of your readers can suggest a 
course of treatment likely to be successful in such cases as 
the above, I, for one, shall feel much obliged. You see I 
w r as successful in the case of the dog, where no time was lost 
in applying remedies, but in that of the horse half an hour 
had elapsed before anything was done. 
