232° QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Mar., 1899. 
carried on in the family without any outlay for wages, where there are so many 
cases of members of it being temporarily out of work. No extra rent would 
be required, while straw is far cheaper here than in Europe. Furthermore, the 
price per 1,000 here would be higher than in Irance, Holland, or Germany, and 
where perhaps no profit, or possibly only a very small one, exists under condi- 
tions obtaining in those countries, the small margin might in the colony be 
converted into a reasonable profit, providing fair wages for a family’s labour. 
At all events, the matter is one well worthy of the attention of practical 
men. 
REMEDY FOR SNAKE-BITE. 
Wurst India holds the record for deaths from snake-bites, Australia, with its 
many venomous snakes, has little to complain of in this respect. ‘The most 
dreaded reptile of India is the cobra; that of South America, especially of 
Demerara, is the Bush-master, and in no less degree the Fer-de-Lance. 
The United States of America are, in certain zones, afflicted by the rattlesnake. 
Egypt has its horned adder. Queensland’s poisonous snake world is repre- 
‘sented by the black, brown, diamond, tiger, and a few more deadly reptiles, of 
which one of the deadliest is the deaf (or death) adder. But Queensland 
boasts a singular immunity from deaths by snake-bite. What is the reason 
for this immunity? It lies in this. The snakes mentioned, with the exception 
of the brown snake and tiger snake, are not aggressive. Again, their venom 
fangs are shorter than those of other tropical countries. Hence, some people 
who have been bitten by our venomous snakes have recovered under proper 
treatment. It would be interesting to be able to present a table of recorded 
deaths and recoveries from snake-bite in this colony, as is done in India. 
Various remedies have been employed to counteract the effects of an attack 
by venomous snakes, and usually with success when the remedy could be at 
once applied, but it occasionally happens that a person is bitten when working 
far away from medical or domestic help, and such cases often end fatally. We 
are only too glad to publish any remedy which presents an element of success- 
fully competing with the effects of snake-bite, and here we have one which 
appears simplicity itself. We give it as we have received it, for what it is 
worth. he letter is written to the Plorida Agriculturist :— 
Dr. F. E. Brown, in a late issue of the Leesburg Commercial (U.S.A.) 
gives a cure for the bite of rattlesnakes, which he says he has used successfully 
in his practice. We reproduce in full his letter, which may at some time prove 
of value to some of our readers : 
Seeing in your paper a notice of the death of a lady from the effect of the 
bite of a rattlesnake, it occurred to me that it would be the proper thing to do 
to give you my experience with the tincture of iodine in these cases. [ have 
treated thirteen cases of snake-bites in my practice with simply marvellous 
. results—even restoring to life and health when the patient was supposed to be 
dying. My first case occurred many years ago. A little child, say three or 
four years old, was brought to me with two ugly gashes on the instep by a fair- 
sized rattler. I suppose I saw the child about an hour after the bite, with 
limbs badly swollen and in great pain. I applied iodine to the wound, and 
gave the child drop doses every ten minutes for an hour, then every half-hour 
until decided improvement. The child took 10 to 15 drops in all. Next morning 
the father reported child perfectly recovered and playing around as usual. My 
last case was about one year ago. A lad about fifteen years old, whilst reaching 
under some boards for hen-eggs, was bitten on his right hand by a large rattler. 
He was brought to me with hand and arm enormously swollen, and scarcely 
able to stand on his feet. I pursued precisely the same treatment as in my 
first case, except that I doubled the dose. He took in all perhaps 25 drops 
of the iodine. He recovered rapidly with no outward results. Some of 
my cases were much more remarkable than these ; each one recovering quickly 
with no suppuration of the wounds or other outward results. 
