The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1874-07-23
A REMARKABLE ORDEAL.
How a Texas Doctor Experimental
on Himself-TOying with Death for
the Sake of Science-IOdine AS a
Remedy for Snake Bites.

the Sake of Science-IOdine as n
Remedy for Snake Bites.
The New Orleans Times says: We
don't know that we have ever come across
a more striking example of this peculiar
and admirable trait OF the genuine, high
toned medical practitioners character and
creed than is set forth in the following let
ter. which we find in late number of the
Houston (TeXas) Telegraph. Its private
letter to Mr.. +. III. Cushing, prominent
citizen of Houston, formerly editor and
known in years gone by to the writer OF
these lines.
The letter is from the veteran DIR. Ash
bel Smith, one of the oldest and most dis
| tinguiShed citizens of Texas, thorough
physician and accomplished scholar and
gentleman, who has served Texas, whilst
| Il republic and then as a State, in various
public and honorable offices, with honor
and distinction. Having had the pleasure
of knowing DR.. Smith Intimately, we can
vouch for it that this letter was not written
| for publication, and that the whole trying
ordeal, in which his life hung suspended in
the balance for hours, took place just as
he describes it. DIR. Smiths discovery,
| from his own personal experience, of the
efficacy of iodine in poison from snake
bite, will Of course be duly noted by phys
! icians:
My DEAR SIR: l can't walk, but with
help have hobbled to the table. If i'm
prove reasonably in hobbling by Friday
night, | shall be at my post, in your city,
on Saturday. My lameness would deserve
but the shortest mention but for some facts
connected with its cause, which may, per-
| hapS, be of interest to Others in similar
circumstances.
About dark Saturday last. as | was walk
| ing up the hill from the bay shore, felt a
heavy scuffling about one of my legs, and,
at the same moment the bites of sharp
teeth. Reaching the house saw by the
! light three several little wounds with
blood eNuding from them on my legs,
! three inches above the ankle. There were
two puncturcs to each wound, made by the
snake that had bit me. Swelling had al
ready commentaries than five minutes
! from the biting. Still determined to do
nothing, for while at least, in order to OBJ
serve the effects of the poison unmOditied
| by treatment. The swelling increased
rapidly, and in fifteen minutes more the
| pain had become eXcruciating, and / could
not bear my weight on the leg. was
obliged now to lie down.
! now took, in a wineglass of water,
| iodine. About fifteen minutes afterwards,
repeated the iodine-about twenty drops.
A short time after, perhaps fifteen or
twenty minutes, third dose of iodine
! fifteen drops-in twenty or thirty minutes
after, the fourth. The length of these
several intervals is cOnjectured. | had the
OriticeS Ofthe wounds several times touched
with the tincture of iodine, and the leg.
which was now swollen from the ankle to
the knee, was painted with iodine.
| The pain was eXcruciating, but by 1880
or IL O'clOck-twO and a half or three
! hours after the bite-had abated sensibly.
About 1:30 in the morning l fell asleep,
and awOke at sunrise with complete stiff
ness and superficial soreness of the limb,
on touch, now swollen to double its for
mer size, but with no pain worth men
| tiOning. Nor have l since had any suf-
fering further than complete disuse of the
| leg, till this morning, and being obliged
to have it at all times elevated. The foot
participated in the swelling, and if the leg
! hung down it became land indeed still
! does in few minutes perfectly livid.
! The interest of the matter in question
| lies in the use, the efficacy, of iodine as a
remedy for venOmOus bites. Nothing
else than iodine was used; no spirits, no
| hartshOrn, not the least possible thing in
the world, internally Or externally, except
iodine and one small drink of water.
Former experience had given me con-
| fidence in iodine by its use with others. l
was determined to give it fair showing
in my own case, unaided and unobstruct-
ed by any other medication. | have at
tached the greatest interest to this case be-
cause, though one is seldom safe judge
in his own case, the present bite has been
by long odds the severest snake bite | ever
knew. If left to itself it would. in my
opinion, have been fatal in a very few
hours. That the snake was a very large
one, | know from his having scuffled
about my legs, and, l may add. from the
depth to which l felt his fangs enter. My
instantaneous suspicion, from the. weight
and severity of the bite, was that my as
sailant was wildcat or some such ami
NAL. The excruciating pain felt subse-
quently, as before mentioned, seemed to
me like the ferocious cramps of the mus
Giles in malignant cholera, except that they
were not in any degree spasmodic.
There were other circumstances, symp-
toms which should detail were | writing
to physician, but they would only still
further bore you. To set forth truly the
efficacy of iodine must excuse my length.
do not know what kind of snake it
was, but suspect it to have been a rattle
snake.