SCOUTING FOR GIRLS 
297 
In Case of Snake Bite 
First, keep cool, and remember that the bite of Amer- 
ican snakes is seldom ‘fatal if the proper measures are 
followed. 
You must act at once. Try to keep the poison from 
getting into the system by a tight bandage on the arm 
or leg (it is sure to be one or the other) just above the 
wound. Next, get it out of the wound by slashing the 
wound two or more ways with a sharp knife or razor 
at least as deep as the puncture. Squeeze it — wash it 
out with permanganate of potash dissolved in water to 
the color of wine. Suck it out with the lips (if you have 
no wounds in the mouth it will do you no harm there). 
Work, massage, suck, and wash to get all the poison out. 
After thorough treatment to remove the venom the liga- 
ture may be removed. 
“Pack small bits of gauze into the wounds to keep 
them open and draining, then dress over them with 
gauge saturated with any good antiseptic solution. Keep 
the dressing saturated and the wounds open for at least 
a week, no matter how favorable may be the symptoms.” 
Some people consider whiskey or brandy a cure for 
snake bite. There is plenty of evidence that many have 
been killed by such remedies, and little that they have 
ever saved any one, except perhaps when the victim was 
losing courage or becoming sleepy. 
In any case, send as fast as you can for a doctor. He 
should come equipped with hypodermic syringe, tubes of 
anti-venomous serum and strychnine tablets. 
Harmless Snakes 
Far the greatest number of our snakes are harmless, 
beautiful, and beneficient. They are friendly to the farm- 
er, because, although some destroy a few birds, chickens, 
ducklings, and game, the largest part of their food is 
mice and insects. The Blacksnake, the Milk Snake, and 
