CASES OF SNAKE-JUTE. 
59 
drowsy, with slight shivering. A ligature was placed imme¬ 
diately above the wound, which was excised, and bleeding from 
it encouraged. One drachm and a half of liquor ammonite was 
given every ten, fifteen, or twenty minutes, according to the 
urgency of the symptoms; and a mixture of chloroform gij, 
spirit gij, and camphor mixture one ounce given every 
half hour; and as the man was in great danger, a stimulating 
enema with mustard was had recourse to, and the caustic 
volatile alkali was freely applied to the wound. I am happy 
to say that the active treatment had the desired effect. The 
pulse rose; prostration, drowsiness, &c., were diminished, and 
he left the hospital well on Oct. 1st. The other two cases 
were slight ones, and the snakes were not seen ; the bitten 
persons recovered. 
I am indebted to the Coromisioner of Sind for the following 
cases, which are reported by Dr. J. Roche, Assistant Civil 
Surgeon, Kotree:— 
Bukta, a boatman’s wife, aged thirty years, was bitten by a 
Kuppur ( Ecliis carinata) , length two feet, on the night of Jan. 
25th, 1870, at about 9 o’clock, on board a native boat in the river 
Indus; the boat belonged to the Forest Department. The 
animal was carried on board, concealed in the firewood, and had 
so secreted itself that the men were not aware of its presence 
amongst them. Bukta, in cooking the evening’s meal, needed 
wood, and as she was extracting some from the supply at hand, 
was bitten by the snake on the dorsum of the first phalanx of 
the left index finger. She cried aloud, and her husband and 
others came to her assistance, and having ascertained what was 
the matter, killed the animal and applied a string tightly on 
the finger nearer the centres of the circulation than the seat 
of the bite. Depression, faintness, dimness of vision, anxiety, 
thirst, a painful oppression at the epigastrium, and swelling of 
the finger, which extended up to the arm, followed. The string 
was removed from the finger, and a stronger and tighter one was 
applied around the forearm at the wrist. The swelling in¬ 
creased and invaded the arm up as fin- as the shoulder; the 
symptoms of mischief increased through the night, and as they 
had not been successful in checking the injury by ligatures, 
they removed them and brought the patient to the Kotree 
Civil Hospital at about 6 o clock on the morning of Jan. 26th, 
1870. Condition of patient when seen at 7 a.m. : Much ex¬ 
hausted ; extremities cold; blood exuded from the eyes, gums, 
tongue, nose, vagina, and from under the nails of both great toes 
and thumbs; she suffered from much thirst and gastric sinking ; 
had vomited before admission. Breathing diaphragmatic, and 
with a sensation as if the interior of chest were fixed to the spine 
in an immovable manner. Voice choleraic almost to huskiness. 
Heart-beats weak and impulse imperceptible. Pulse hsemor- 
lhagic, and, as if the arteries were not full, was obliterated by 
the slightest pressure. The left arm was much swollen, bluish, 
cedematous, and wholly devoid of sensibility ; the nearer to the 
site of the bite on the finger the less was the vitality of the 
parts. The pitting on pressure remainded a lengthened period. 
The patient had not been purged, nor had she a motion for 
more than thirty hours. The blood which issued from her 
seemed very fluid, and crusted as paint on the parts. 
Treatment. She had a powder composed of fifteen grains of 
compound jalap powder, one grain of calomel, and five grains of 
powdered ginger, at once, and the following draught:_ 
9> Sp. ammon. arom., Jss. 
Ether, chloric., ir|y. 
Tr. iodinii, rr|j. 
Liq. arsenicalis, iqij. 
Mist, camph., J j. M. ft. haust. 
To be taken every hour for three hours, and afterwards every 
third hour; had starchy food, and had a large camphor poultice 
to envelope the whole arm and forearm. In the evening she 
was somewhat moie cheerful and may be said to have improved- 
had passed tarry stools in the course of the day. The morning 
of the ,»/th was lestless through night; the camphor poultices 
and draughts were continued, and camphor liniment was ordered 
to be rubbed into the arm in the course of the day; the friction 
was to extend over two hours. The 28th—was better, and liquor 
arsenicalis was omitted from the draughts. The 29th—had 
fever, and was ordered a diaphoretic mixture and turpentine 
Punch every third hour. The 30th—was better; treatment 
continued. She was discharged on Feb. 2nd, 1870, but there 
was a haemorrhagic tendency from the mucous surfaces. Ten 
days afterwards she had a return of all the symptoms, and came 
into hospital again, when the same treatment was resorted to, 
and after a few days she left, well. 
I have seen the case of another woman who was bitten on 
the toe by a Sarang,* genus Coluber, about thirteen inches long. 
The patient complained of a sinking feeling and giddiness of the 
head, also imperfect vision and a great fear of death. She left 
the hospital after twenty-four hours, well, and had no medicine 
but a purgative and some draughts containing ammonia. I was 
under the impression that the snake was a young one, and hence 
was not sufficiently venomous to destroy life. This snake is 
tolerably common in Sind, and is by some natives called ££ Soo- 
long, but it is only by some thought to be poisonous. They 
recommend as an antidote for the bite of this, as of many others, 
to eat the body minus the head and tail. 
I have been favoured with the following account of a case of 
snake bite, and am indebted to Captain Birch, the Deputy 
Commissioner of Police, for the particulars :— 
Information was received at 6 p.m. of Nov. 21st, that a native 
boy, name and residence unknown, had died from the effects of a 
snake-bite. It appears that the deceased had been on the Diamond 
Harbour road, and, near the house of the informant, had gone 
into the jungle, having previously laid down on the road-side a 
basket containing a snake and some other things used by snake- 
charmers. He returned in a few minutes, and was observed to 
be rubbing his right with his left hand; on being questioned 
as to what was the matter, as he looked as though he was suf¬ 
fering, he said he had a burning sensation all over his body, 
and shortly after he fell down and died. He had while in the 
jungle met with a snake—the kind he did not mention—and on 
trying to catch it, it bit him on the back of his right hand. 
The Police Inspector who reported the case and saw the body 
said that there were three distinct marks, apparently from the 
bite of a snake, on the back of the right hand, and no marks of 
violence on the body. The body was examined by a medical 
officer, who certified that death had been caused by a snake¬ 
bite in the hand. In the basket left by the boy on the road 
was a full-grown Cobra. This was forwarded to me by Captain 
Birch. The precise time between the bite and the death is not 
known, but it could not have been more than from fifteen to 
twenty minutes, from the account I received of the circum¬ 
stances of the case. 
This is another example of the deadly effects of the snake- 
poison when thoroughly inoculated, as it no doubt was in this 
case, by a fresh and vigorous snake. 
The following case was communicated by Dr. F. Day 
In June, 1858, I was stationed at Aurangabad in medical 
charge of an irregular infantry regiment H. C., and in the 
* I believe the snake to have been innocent; the symptoms described were pro¬ 
bably due to fear. I do not, under the vernacular name, identify the reptile._J E 
