Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-01-14
A Rattlesnake Bite Cured.
Tho follovinp ia An abstract of an q

r, M, steamer Elbe, Santos. August
/. of his extraordinary recovery from
snake bite. received while experiment
ing to discover a prophy tactic against
The venom OF snakes:
The snake, Crotalus horridus, which
he received at Pernambuco from q
friend. was a small one, not eighteen
inches long, with only two joints on
his rattle. About o'clock in the morn,
ing. when all was q ui-t, he opened the
y box containing the snake and introduced
his hand, but felt q horror and disgust
Of the reptile such as he had mover ex-
nerienced of any snake before, and
vithdrew his hand without touching
Il. He supposed his nerves we're out
of order, for it was some time before he
could make up his mind TO proceed;
when he did 80 he put u thick leather
glove on his left hand. and grasped the
snake by the neck, intending to let it
) bite his right arm ust above the wrist,
; The snake managed to wriggle through
his fingers, and struck him with back
handed slash like a whip below the
gauntlet on the front of the left fore
arm, breaking off one OF itsfangs in
doing so, and the piece was left stick
ing in the wound. Putting it back in
: tho box. he picked out the bit of fang
with pair Of forceps, and sat down
quietly to await results. He had liga-
lures, ammonia, brandy, and nitric
acid at hand in readiness. There were
two punctures, a little more than half
an inch apart. a trace of blood in one
of them, no common teeth marks at all.
Nothing came Of it, aud he went on
writing until A. vi. Then he noticed
that the lymphatics higher up the arm
we're swollen and inhamed, and that
there was lump, painful to the touch,
underneath, and almost at the same
: moment he became aware of light head
edness and of q burning sensation
traversing his whole frame. There
seemed to be great vascular and mental
excitement, yet his temperature was
down to 96 deg. and min. He applied
nitric acid to the wound, and while
considering what to take in the way of
internal remedies the excitement was
suddenly succeeded by depression
and drowsiness so irresistible that he
had only time to reach his bunk, when
he became insensible. DR.. Wyman, u
passenger on the Elbe, was called at
liza NJ. to see DR.. Stradling. and found
/ him lying on his back on bunk, legs
stretched out, face and lips pale, ex
preston dull; eyes fixed and CLASSY.
the lids remaining open or shut as they
were placed; pupils contracted. Gen
eral surface of body warm and moist,
but the feet and legs cold to above the
| knee. Temperature in axllia 80 deg
: min. Respiration about thirteen per
minute, shallow. At the time, aud for
about four hours afterward, there was
very little movement of the ribs, there
being PARALYSIS of the intercostal mus
cles, the respiration was almost, if not
entirely abdominal. The breathing
during the whole period was very ir-
regular, both III frequency and depth
occasionally stertorous. Heart, sounds
Ut apex and base normal aui distinct at
first; pulse varying from SO to 81, mod
erately full, but easily compressible,
sometimes irregular in force, this ir
\ regularity being coincident with irreg-
. ularity of breathing.
There was complete paralysis OF the
lower eXtremities. Ga the left forearm
were two black punctures, surrounded
bya dusky margin of inflammation
the arm swoolen but very slightly
Those punctures DR.. Wyman sucked,
drawing IL little blood from one Of them,
and applied strong nitric acid freely
He also put on iignture tightly above
the elbow, which gave rise to great
swelling of the forearm and hand later
on. He administered a drachm of sui
phuric ether twice in about twenty
minutes, and then half u drachm with
the same quantity of compound spirits
ofammonia every twenty minutes or
half an hour, until o'clock in the AZ
teenoon; about six drachms of ether
aud an ounce of ammonia altogether
\ being taken. There was no movement
= OF the body whatever until 3 o'clock,
when . we'll defined tetanic spasm
arched tho body backward; hiccough,
lasting some minutes, occurred several
times; and there was twitching about
| the muscles of the upper part of the
| chest and shoulders. There was nc
vomiting; the sufferer spoke occasion
ally, complaining of painful sensa-
ton at the heart, and often repeating
again and again words which had no
meaning in them, several times express.
ing his belief that he should not re-
cover. At l O'Clock he was given beef
y tea. with eggs and brandy alternately
1 "HtA eAo OVACi uuu ~AitCi -
o'clock the spasmodic movements
ceased entirely to recur, and with
tho right hand he could grasp very
ieebly; he gradually recovered power
In the right arm, right leg, left leg and
arm, in the order given. The ligature
was then removed, and at S o'clock he
was conscious, and all general symptoms
mad disappeared. except great exhaus-
uon and want of power in the back,
which was apparent when he was raised
up. He became rather hysterical. An
! aour later he fell asleep, and slept we'll
lor twelve hours, except that he was
reused every two hours to take nour-
ishment. DIR. Stradling says that when
ne awoke he was in no pain, but as
weak as baby, and became mere lay
1igure for the exhibition of chicken
oroth, jelly, smelling salts. strong
drink, misplaced sympathy, arrowroot
and slippers.
4 sv,pss, ,,,t