The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-10-03


| in at once. The animal strack seems Il
suffer very little pain, but to be rather il
stupefed condition. Human being
| are said to suffer acute pain from th'
wound.
II is not known whether or not the
rattlesnake poisons the animals that j
desires for food, but it is known that il
can swallow its own. poison with inPu
nifty. 1t is said also that human being
may swallow rattlesnake poison with per
feet safety if there be no wound about
the mouth.
There is one animal thnt appears to be
inyulnerable so far as the rattlesnake i;
concerned, and that is the hog. The hog
not only appears proof against the rat
tlesnake's bite, but it cherishes feelings
of the bitterest hostility against all
snakes, innocent and poisonous, and de.
stroys them with eagerness. This fact
suggests a course of theological questions
Was it st. Patrick or the numerous hogs
of the peasantry that cleared Ireland OF
snakes? The scriptures relate that on
one occasion several minions of the devil,
that old serpent, as he is sometimes called,
induced lot of hogs to run violently
down steep place into the lake and
drown themselves, and the question arises
whether this is not the origin of the
enmity to serpents.
These matters, however, were not sug.
gested by Prof. Piper; they are interpo-
lations.
Prof. Piper knew of'a COW that was
struck in the neck by rattlesnake, and
was living a year afterw@rd. Her jaw
was diseased, her head and neck swollen,
and on the latter was running sore.
During the Indianapolis experiments
Prof. Piper tried to get an idea Of the
method in which the snake struck, but it
was impossible. The snakes motion was
so rapid that no eye could follow it.
Lightning was not more sudden in its
movements.
DIR. Haynes cut off the points of the
teeth of a large rat that he put into the
cage lest the snake should be rendered
incapable of performing any more exper-
iments. The rat tried to keep away from
the snake, but the latter felt that his
premises we're invaded, and struck at the
rat. The latter, partially disarmed as he
was, at once turned round and made q
sturdy fight for few seconds. He bit
the snake and the snake struck him three
or four times. At last he felt the effects
of the poison, and walked off as far from
the snake as he could get. He lived for
twenty-seyen hours after this. 4"
The snake seemed to strike only in
self.defenoe, or when he might naturally
suppose he was to be attacked.
The dove showed no signs of fear ol
the snake, and showed no signs of suffer.
ing after being struck. Nor, in fact, did
the wound seem to. have any effect on
the bird for time. About an hour after
the wonnd was made the birds breathing
was short and hard. This was the first
symptom of poisoning, and in fifteen
minutes more che bird was dead.
In the case Of all these animals nc
blood flowed after death, and yet the
blood at the heart was not coagulated.
The authorities differ as to the liability
of the blood to coagulated after snake.
bite, but in all these cases the blood was
uncoagulated.
The snake became SO irritated that he
would try to strike objects outside of his
cage, and succeeded in breaking his fang
once on the wires.
Although many cases Of snake bite:
have been cured, an eminent physician
in New York was struck in the hand by
q rattlesnake he was experimenting with
and he died in spite of all the efforts tha
were made for his salvation.
The time within which the rattle
snakes bite proves fatal in the case of {
human being varies from two hours tt
several days, and there have been case!
of recovery even without the use of rem
edies. Although whiskey taken aftel
the bite is good, taken before the bite i
is bad. Drinking men stand much
smaller chance of surviving a snake Bit
than do temperate men.
So far as known the cobra bite has al
ways proved fatal.
In regard to the effect of the snake Bit
on the blood, curious fact is recorded
An Englishman named Drake, who ex
hibited case of rattlesuakes in England
and France, was one day struck BY one o
his pests, and died in nine hours. Tht
blood on the veinous side was found co
agulated, and on the arterial side it wa
not.
Five species of rattlesnakes are secog
nized by naturalists in the United States
and besides them there are seven othe
kinds of poisonous snakes in this coun
try.
Prof. Piper took a hundred specimen
of blood from the animals experimental
on in indianapolis, and will make micro
scopical examinations of them.