SNAKE BITE AND ITS ANTIDOTE. 
503 
SNAKE BITE AND ITS ANTIDOTE-VII. 
BITE OF THE GILA MONSTER. 
By H. C. Yarrow, M.D., Curator Dept. Reptiles, U. S. National Museum. 
(From Forest and Stream.) 
( Continued from page 459 .) 
On February 7, 1883, Drs. S. Weir Mitchell and Edward T. 
Reichert read a paper before the College of Physicians of Phila¬ 
delphia, entitled “A Partial Study of the Poison of Heloderma 
suspectum Cope, the Gila Monster,” in which the statement was 
made that after several experiments with the saliva of this rep¬ 
tile, they had come to the conclusion that it possessed strongly 
venomous properties. This had been suspected by some natural¬ 
ists, from the fact that this lizard possessed anterior deciduous 
grooved teeth, which communicated by ducts with large glands 
near the angle of the lower jaw. All sorts of conflicting reports 
have been published from time to time regarding this reptile, 
some observers claiming that it is deadly venomous, others be¬ 
lieving it perfectly harmless; in fact, in some parts of the South¬ 
west it was kept as a household pet. Bocourt and JDumeril men¬ 
tion the bad name it has in Mexico, and Sumichrast states that 
the natives hold it in the utmost terror, and consider it as more 
fatal than any serpent. A fowl bitten by it died in twelve hours, 
with bloody fluid exuding from its mouth, the wound being of a 
purple tint. A cat bitten was very ill, but recovered, remaining 
thin and weak. Sir John Lubbock reports that a Heloderma 
sent him killed a frog in a few minutes, a guinea pig in three 
minutes. Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, of the United States Army, re¬ 
ports serious symptoms after having received a bite on the right 
thumb, but no permanent disability followed. 
The writer has for several years endeavored to trace out an 
authentic account of death resulting from the bite of the Gila 
monster, and the following is all the evidence in his possession. 
The first account was secured through Dr. S. P. Guiberson, of 
Ventura County, Cal., and is as follows : 
“ G. J. Hayes, a miner in from the Frazer mine, says that in 
