240 
CREATURES OF MYSTERY 
unfortunately, one of his fangs should penetrate a vein, then 
no hope remains. The layman has no way of knowing, of 
course, and the situation being a desperate one, any person 
present may perform a crude operation without fear of prose¬ 
cution by the courts should he lose his patient. In the January 
issue ( 1909 ) of Outing magazine, Dr. Raymond L. Ditmars of 
the New York Zoological Society offers the following simple 
remedy. Space herein not permitting the publication of the 
article in its entirety, we offer our readers the substance of it, 
reduced to our own language: 
First Aid 
Any person who travels about in a snake-infested country 
should carry certain articles with him in case of accident. A 
list of these may be summed up as follows: a hypodermic syr¬ 
inge; a rubber ligature; several sharp scalpels, or a razor; a 
small jar of antiseptic gauze; material for outside bandage 
which may be ordinary cheesecloth made clean by boiling; a 
vial of permanganate of potassium crystals, and several tubes 
of antivenen serum. 
If a bite is received, it is usually upon some part of the arm 
or leg, and everything depends upon performing the first two 
operations with care, and without delay. First, apply a liga¬ 
ture two inches above the bite, that is, between the bite and the 
heart, to prevent the circulation of the poisoned blood. The 
ligature should be carried at all times where your hands may 
be laid upon it without a second’s loss of time. Next, open 
up the fang punctures to their full depth by cutting. Make 
two cuts over each fang wound. These incisions should cross 
each other. This cutting starts a flow of the poisoned blood 
which should be helped as much as possible by violent rubbing. 
If there are no sores upon the lips or inside the mouth the 
blood may be sucked away, and thus much venom removed 
from the wounds. If a stream is nearby wash the wounds 
thoroughly, then bathe them repeatedly in a solution composed 
of permanganate of potash crystals. In preparing such solu¬ 
tion, crystals should be added to the-water until it becomes a 
deep wine color. 
