The weekly echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1868-1876, 1874-06-20
Communicated.
Dr A. G. Elerisson's Letter.

give On abridged description al
my treatment ia a rattle-snake
bite. qfte the poison had pene.
irated tie entire system. To those
not blinded with prejudice, It may
be Of advantages, at least interest
ing
on tile 29th 81 January last /
was bitten between the small
finger and the next one on the
right hand 81 a rattle-snake, while
digging locust trees, about three
miles from town. As soon as
bitten I heard its rattle, though
still hidden in tall grass. ] killed
ii hy striking II several times when
il got out Of its coil, and I could
then see my enemy, nearly as big
as my wrist, ard stretched about
three feet long, with three or four
rattles only.
] felt Immediately 4 SMART
pricking, burning sensation, aug
menting every instant, and my
hand and arm began to swell at
once. Being mile from my home,
| enyeloped my hand in mud, and
finding nothing at my house that
could relieve me, I started for
Lake ChaSlas, knowing it was my
only chance To get any relief,
though the distance of my whole
walk was over three miles, and the
day remarkably warm for the sea-
son. My suiferings increased as
! walked along, and at times the
poison acting on my heart, / felt
like faiuting in fact, / should
have died at once ii i had fallen
to the ground. AT last / reached
the house Of Mr.. Nettlerode, ex-
hausted, and fainting from excruci-
ating pain and difficulty Of breath
ing, my hand and orm swollen to
bursting, and ashy gray my face
and body beginning to swell
and spotted all over gray, green,
yellow and black in fact, / was
in q dying condition, not able to
swallow a tablespoonful 81 any
liquid, the contraction of the
musles Of the throat being SO great.
Immediately after arriving, lit was
midday 1 was taken with violent
commissions, and had to be put to
bed. ] had eight or ten coDvul-
sions, each of longer duration than
the former, ard intervals between
ofcomplete Inconsistencies. After
the last CONFUSION I lay for eight
hours entirely insensible and I'M
conscious to anything, however
painful, that was done to me during
the time, before, through the eff
cacy Of my previous directed rem
edy, termination began to set in.
/ had read several years ago In
the Medical Abstract, n, ", that
a physician, in India, had discoy-
cred d remedy yea, q specifc)
against the venemous bites Of the
reptiles Of that country, which are
certainly yet more poisonous than
those Of our rattle-snake or copper
moccasins.
The mortality had been SO great
in the army of British India, on
account of snake-bite among its
soldiers, that the government had
offered reward to the one who
would discover a remedy to coun-
teract the virus. A physician of
that army, after making some ex-
periments, discovered that aQaa
ammonia had Che desired effect.
He. at once, with several of hiscoI :
freres, experimental on dogs pur-
posely bitten by those snakes, or
by inoculating the virus in them,
by injecting ammonia, diluted one
part To three Of water, thew in
yariably cured The dogs. Having
obtained such encouraging results
they treated their soldiers after
that plan, and as long as any 81
them had breath iii them, as surely
they would save them by eiecting
hypodermically Tor under Tie skim
tho aqua ammonia. Before that
discovery IN British India, they
lost from three To fong hundred