Litchfield enquirer., 1858-02-11
Whole No. 1852.

to the wound suggested itself but on search ing his pouch he found that not fragment re- mained. He had however, an old blaekened clay pipe that he had used for many months, and dragging himself to flat rock he reduced the pipe to powder, which he wetted and baudaged upon tue wound. An hour after wards he removed it, and found that single globue of greensh fluid had cxuded from the puncture made by the fangs of the snake. A second application of the same cataplasm coni- peted the cure and although he suffered from excrutiating pains for some hours afterwards, he reached home the same night We believe It was not doubted that the poison in this lii- stance had been taken up into the circulation.
 The case of Dr. Wainwright of New York. himself physician of distinction, who perisl,ed from bite upon his finger, we always believe might have been cured had the Use of internal remedies been discarded, and local appca- tion been made to the wound. Dr. Wairi- wright had just received the snake in question by express, packed in a plain box and in transferring it to suitable cage was bitten in the hand. And although the most eminent physicians in the city were in pron pt attend | ance, he expired in few hours afterwards The whole pharmacopeia appeared at fault, for almost every official remedy was ineifeclu- ally tried. Yet we could almost assert that had he been bitten in a country settlement in North Pennsylvania, with no physician within fifty miles, his life would have been saved by the unpretendng medcaments which the sim ple old ladies keep ready prepared for such contingencies.
 1 These scrpents are more dangerous in Au- gust when they become bln,, for they strike
 at hazard and far more frequent than under
 ordinary circumstances. Happily the snake
 is sluggish in it's motions, and is easily killed
 with switch Did it possess the activity and pluck of the common black snake, the countries
 which it infests would be absolutely uninhabit-
 able. Occasionally, we have killed them only
 after an obstinate battle, and when it finds | that escape is impossible, the snake, in its slug | gish fury, will sometimes bite itself, and then | 1t becomes poisonous to the touch In other cases, when decaptated, it's body cannot be handled with impunity, but the country people | attribute marvellous degree of efficacy to the oil, which they prepare from its fat. We have | often been amused at hearing the goodness of Providence illustrated by the remark "that even the poisonous rattlesnake is furnished with rattle so that it may give warning before it makes the dead strike v' This is simply ab- 1 surd. When the snake inlicts blow, its tail
 is motionless. The reptile lies in coil with
 his head gleaming from the middle, and in
 springing to an attack, straighteus itself out
 but it cannot leap from the ground as many
 other snakes do. When it sings" as cou,l- l try people characterize the vibration of it's rat
 ties, which sound not unlike the noise made by
 the harvest ocust-it is expressive of wish
 for peace, and if not further molestcd, there is ! no dancer to he annrehendpd Rpt if trodden
 upon or suddenly encountered, the rattle is
 never heard the snake will then strike in the
 manner we have described, but can take effect
 only providing the object of the blow be not
 further distant than the reptiles length.
 When they are very abundant in the couh-
 try, people usually wear woollen stockings, in
 which, if they bite, their fangs bccoi1fd caught, and slight blow instantly kills theih.