SUGGESTIONS FOR THE IMMEDIATE TREATMENT OF PERSONS BITTEN 
BY VENOMOUS SNAKES. 
(Intended for the Guidance of Police Officers and others.) 
It is, I believe, usual to supply the police thannahs with 
liquor ammonia; to administer to those who are bitten, and who 
come under the notice of the police before they can be brought 
under any medical treatment. 
The practice is a good one, and I would advocate its con¬ 
tinuance and extension. Ammonia is a powerful stimulant, 
and may do good—it cannot do any harm; administered in 
doses of ten or fifteen drops with half a wineglass (chittack) of 
water every quarter of an hour, or even more frequently, it may 
be of benefit; and as in the police-stations and elsewhere in 
England tables giving general instructions for the treatment 
of the drowned or suffocated are hung up by the Humane 
Society, so in the Indian police-stations, and other public 
places where such might be useful, I would hang up tables 
giving brief and clear instructions how to act in the case of 
snake-bite. 
As soon as possible after a person is bitten by a snake apply 
a ligature, made of a piece of cord, round the limb or part at 
about 2 or 3 inches above the bite. 
Introduce a piece of stick or other lever between the cord 
and the part, and by twisting tighten the ligature to the 
utmost. 
Apply other two or three ligatures above the first one at 
intervals of 4 or 6 inches, and tighten them also. After the 
ligature has been applied scarify, by cutting across the punc¬ 
tures to the depth of I of an inch with a penknife or other 
similar cutting instrument; let the wounds bleed freely; or 
better still, excise the punctured part. 
Apply either a hot iron or a live-coal to the bottom of these 
wounds as quickly as possible, or some carbolic or nitric acid. 
If the bite be not on a finger, toe, or part where a ligature 
can be applied, raise up the integument with the finger and 
thumb, and with a sharp penknife cut out a circular piece as 
big as a finger nail round each puncture— i.e., round the points 
of the finger and tjiumb—to the depth of J or \ an inch. Then 
apply the hot coal or hot iron to the very bottom of the 
wounds. 
Give fifteen drops of liquor ammonise diluted with an ounce 
of water immediately, and repeat it every quarter of an hour, 
for three or four doses, or longer, if symptoms of poisoning 
appear. 
Or give hot brandy or rum or whisky or other spirit, with an 
equal quantity of water, about an ounce of each (for an adult) 
at the same intervals. Send at once for medical aid; or take 
the person to the nearest medical man without delay; if none 
be near, in half an hour, should no symptoms of poisoning have 
appeared, the ligatures should be relaxed, or the part will perish 
from gangrene. 
If symptoms of poisoning do appear, do not relax the liga¬ 
tures until the person be recovering from the poison, or until 
the ligatured part be cold and livid. 
Suction of the wounds is likely to be beneficial, but as it may 
be dangerous to the operator, it cannot be recommended as a 
duty. 
If, notwithstanding, symptoms of poisoning set in and in¬ 
crease, if the patient become faint or depressed, unconscious, 
nauseated or sick, apply mustard poultices, or liquor ammonia; 
on a cloth, over the stomach and heart; continue the stimulants 
and keep the patient warm, but do not shut him up in a hot 
stifling room or a small native hut—rather leave him in the 
fresh air than do this. 
Ho not make him walk about if weary and depressed; rouse 
with stimulants, mustard poultices or ammonia, but let him 
rest. 
If the person be brought, as he or she probably will be, 
some time after the bite has been inflicted, and symptoms of 
poisoning are present, the same measures are to be resorted to. 
They are less likely to be successful, but nothing else can be 
done. 
In many cases the prostration is due to fear, the bite may 
have been that of a harmless or exhausted snake, and persons 
thus bitten will rapidly recover if treated as I have recom¬ 
mended, and encouraged. If poisoned, but, as frequently is 
the case, not fatally, these measures are the most expedient; 
if severely poisoned, no others are likely to be more efficacious. 
It will frequently happen that the bitten person is seen by 
an educated person (though not a medical man) who may have 
the opportunity of applying the magnetic or electric current to 
the heart and diaphragm, or of making other additions to the 
measures already described. By such the so-called antidotes 
may be given, though I fear they can add but little if any 
benefit. The snake should always, if possible, be produced. 
The measures suggested are no doubt severe, and not such 
as under any other circumstances should be entrusted to non¬ 
professional persons. But the alternative is so dreadful, that 
even at the risk of unskilful treatment, it is better that the 
patient should have this chance of recovery. 
In addition to a supply of liquor ammonise at all police 
thannahs or other police localities away from the dispensaries 
and stations, where the ryots might apply for aid in case of 
bites, I would suggest that a small supply of strong whipcord, 
an actual cautery iron, and a small knife for the purposes I 
have described, and a bottle of carbolic or nitric acid should be 
provided. 
In the present state of our knowledge with regard to the 
effects of artificial respiration in prolonging life, it would be 
premature to recommend the introduction of a tube into the 
trachea by operative procedure for the purpose of inflating the 
lungs, yet I would suggest that artificial respiration by the 
Sylvester or Marshall Hall method should be diligently 
practised. Either proceeding is so simple that in addition to 
the other means suggested it might be employed without 
danger by bystanders. 
A plain summary or translation of these suggestions might 
be hung up in every police thannali and other public place. 
The people should be warned against incantations, popular 
antidotes, and loss of time in seeking for aid. 
Every police inspector, of whatever grade, might be taught 
the application of the simple measures I have described, and 
should be enjoined to make them known as widely as possible 
among the police and people. 
M 
