Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-05-04
intoxication, which i. taken as . most a. |

intoxication, which is taken as most f.
vorable symptom-evidence that he is out
of danger-that is to say, from the wound,
whatever may be the consequence of the
medication. The patient is never suffered
to 60 to sleep, even for moment (if 1t can
be prevented), until all danger is passed
Twenty -four hours after the bite is in
flicted, the symptoms will frequently recur
with more or less violence, if the crotaline
is very viruIent If so, the treatment of
the day before is repeated, emitting the
cautery. If the patient survives the sec
ond paroxysm, he will not be liza
BILE TO have recurrence. Such
cases are apt to be followed, in q few
days, by ulcers, boils, and eruptions-
painful reminders of the legitimate heir
ship and inheritance of the flesh. A mule
which had been snake-bitten and was res
cued from death flor sake of experiment.
soon lost most of its hair, broke out in
sores wherever scratch was inflicted, and
became in all respects weak and worth
less object of administration; only worthy
of the attention Of poets, since great Cole
ridge "soared to eulogize an asst" AL
though such treatment is, perhaps, un-
necessarily harsh and radical" still, under
the circumstances, 1t is merciful; and out
OF ten or twelve cases within my knowl-
edge, only one proved fatal under it, and
that one was not taken in hand till too late
to hope for a rescue. No doubt less vigor-
Gus measures will, in a majority Of cases,
suffice. 1t is mooted whether the employ
ment Of so much alcohol as a cure is neces-
sary or advisable Many claim that it has
such peculiar action upon the blood as to
ward off the action Of crotaline. The al
legged fact that it is found difficult to In
toxicate a person affected by the poison,
shows an immediate antagonism between
the two, alcohol and crotaline, as is
claimed-but not by any means conceded.
This may, indeed, be true, to certain ex-
tent, as it is often difficult to derive any
effect from alcoholic stimulants, when one
is in great pain or is under the influence
of some of the narcotics But it is ques.
tionable whether the excitement of fright
has not good deal to do with the apparent
impotency Of the stimulant 1t is found
that sudden and very great fright will al
most instantly make drunken man sober
and why may not the same cause tend tend tt
keep him SOY We know that a resolute
exertion of the will enables person To
withstand the effects of stimulants more
successfully than he otherwise could and
why may not the attention fixed so closely
upon his danger-why may not his fear
have the same effects Fear and anxiety
superadded to pain, and the action of the
venom too, to some extent, may sufficient
ly account for the difficulty of producing
intoxication, without laying it to the fear
full potency of the genom alone. If this
position is correct, it follows that using
alcohol in such quantities is reprehensible
or, to say the least Of it, unnecessary
Moreover, equally favorable results have
followed the use of spirits of ammonia in
jected into the cuts made by the scarifiel
and taken internally in alienation with
alcoholic stimulants, stopping far short OF
intoxication. The surgeons in India
recommend ammonia as an almost certain
antidote for all snakebites except that Of
the cobra, if used seasonably; at any rate
the best yet found.-Lakeside Monthly.