CASES OF SNAKE-BITE. 
pain shot up the whole length of the arm, along the course of 
the nerve affected, making me drop the creature faster than I 
had picked it up. 
“ I was going down to the billiard-room, and was only a few 
yards from my house at the time. It was situated just above 
and close to the billiard room. I went back at once to the 
house, and said to Dr. F. P., who was living with me, that 
I had been bitten by a snake, but did not think it was poi¬ 
sonous (the fact being that I was rather ashamed of being such 
a muff). He told me it was better to be on the safe side, and 
made me drink at once a glass of brandy and suck the wound, 
lhis brought out a good deal of dark blue blood from a punc¬ 
ture only large enough just to be seen ; and he sent off to the 
dispensary for other remedies. We went down to the hilliard- 
room, but my thumb was too stiff and sore to play, and shortly 
after a violent throbbing headache came on. So I went and 
told P. I would go back to the house and lie down. When I 
got back sickness came on, and the contents of my stomach 
were all turned out. P. soon returned, and seeing that the 
case was serious, which from my silence on the matter he had 
not believed, lanced the wound deeply, and applied something, 
I forget what. He went off for F. This was, as well as I can 
recollect, about 4 o’clock p.m., about three-quarters of an 
hour after the bite was inflicted ; gradually the headache, which 
had been very violent, subsided, and drowsiness came on. The 
two doctors remained with me all night, and I was walked 
about and dosed with strong hot punch. I must have consumed 
two bottles or more, for a third was broached. It was about 
3 a.m. in the morning that the pulse was sufficiently excited to 
action for F. to leave me and P. to lie down. I did not, 
I think, wholly lose consciousness of my state at any time, 
but believe I talked a good deal, more or less incoherently. 
Two or three times the bowels were moved, and I was aware 
that the motions had a peculiarly strong odour. P. after¬ 
wards said that for some time he did not think I would have 
pulled through, and would not had my health at the time not 
been very good. Next morning leeches were applied up the 
course of a nerve along the arm, which was much swollen, and 
remained very thick and hard for some time, not going down 
quite for seven or eight days. 
“ The viper was V. elegans, at least I know of no other brown 
poisonous one, fifteen to twenty-two inches in length, with dark 
markings on the back. Had it got both fangs in, I could not 
I think have got over it. 
“ V. elegans is very common in the Punjab. Of 471 snakes 
brought in on one day, for a reward, to Dr. Aitchison at Um- 
ritsur in I860, and which I helped him to kill, there were more 
than 300 of this one kind. Dr. A. tells me that Dr. Jerdon 
named it for him. I killed a pregnant female at Hmritsur in 
1868—she had eighteen young ones, all lively pretty little 
things, three or four inches long, each in a little membranous 
sac, all strung together like so many sausages, on breaking which 
they seemed quite prepared to enter on life with perhaps a 
little maternal help.” 
I am indebted for the above graphic account of snake-bite to 
an officer who was himself the sufferer. The name is by his 
own request suppressed. 
The following cases are reported by the Sub-Assistant Surgeon 
of Loodianah :— 
Bunnarie Kunbor, aged twenty years, was bitten on the 
right ear by a snake about one and a half feet in length (name 
could not be given), on the night of Aug. 27th, 1870, while 
asleep in his house at the village of Loodianah. He did not 
come under treatment, and died on Aug. 29th, thirty hours 
after receiving the bite. The body was examined seven hours 
after death. The lungs were highly congested. The heart 
was empty. The abdominal viscera were congested, but other¬ 
wise normal. The blood was fluid. Brain congested and 
softened. 
Sedhoo Put, aged sixty years, of the village of Gundhvvon, 
Loodianah, was bitten by a snake of a “dusky” colour, on the 
inner side of the instep of the left foot, on the morning of Aug. 
15th, 1870. He did not come under the observation of Dr. 
Ince, but his foot is said to have become very much swollen. 
He died nine hours after the bite. The body, which was 
somewhat decomposed, was examined twenty-eight hours after 
death. The lungs were of a black colour, and much congested. 
The heart was empty. The abdominal viscera were softened 
and decomposed. The blood was fluid. The brain was also 
softened and decomposed. Cadaveric rigidity is said not to have 
been present when the post-mortem examination was made. 
< The following case is reported by Mr. Marshall, District 
Superintendent of Police of Loodianah 
M. H, a Brahmin, aged sixty years, was bitten on July 22nd, 
1870, at the village of Sehandood, by a snake known in the 
1 unjab as the “ Kod kundyal.” The hand is said to have become 
inflamed, and she died three hours after the bite. 
M. Mumghan, a woman, aged twenty-five years, of the village 
of Khutter, was bitten by a Plumear snake (black Cobra) at 
10 p.m. on Aug. 23rd. She did not come under treatment, and 
died eight hours after being bitten. The body was examined 
fifty hours after death. Dr. Ince remarks that the body was 
not so much decomposed as might have been expected in a 
close' damp atmosphere, with a temperature of 149° in the sun 
and 97° m the shade. The lungs were black and congested. 
Loth sides of the heart quite empty. The abdominal viscera, 
with the exception of the liver, which though large was other¬ 
wise normal, were congested. The blood was fluid. The brain 
was much congested. The time at which cadaveric rigidity 
occurred could not be stated. 
The following cases are recorded by Sub-Assistant Surgeon 
Troy Lucka Nath Chose, of Meerut, dated Jan. 4th, 1870 :_ 
Hussaram Lodha, a Hindoo grass-cutter, aged twenty-six 
years, was bitten at 3 a.m. on June 23rd, 1869, by a snake 
which he did not see, as it was dark. The circumstances under 
which he was bitten are not stated. On admission into the 
Dispensary there was slight dilatation of the pupils. The foot 
where the fangs had penetrated was swollen; pulse slow, but 
not full. The treatment was liquor ammonke, gtt. x. every hour ; 
he was not allowed to sleep ; and he was cupped, the report 
does not state where, to the extent of about thirty ounces. He 
recovered, and left the Dispensary in eight hours. The marks 
of the fangs were visible on the outer aspect of the right foot, 
in fiont of the malleolus. The parts around were swollen, 
purplish, and in the centre of this surface two black spots were 
seen. 
Tharee, a male Hindoo, aged thirty-five years, while passing 
through a narrow lane at the village of Kurrepore on April 
L2th at 7 p.m. was bitten by a snake known to the natives as 
the Ikore Kuid (specific name unknown), He was treated by 
the native doctor of the Aleepore Dispensary. He was sensible 
but lefused food, and when put in a sitting position became 
hunt. The pulse was small and rapid (120) and the foot hot 
and swollen. The bitten part was scarified and liquor ammo- 
nia3 applied. Half a drachm of liquor ammonia; in water was 
