The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1883-07-18
Poison i'm Snakes.
VARIOUS WAYS OF CURING sNAKE-BITES--A
MUSEUM OWNERS PECULIAR EXPERIENCE.
1


fBrooklyn Union.J
In speaking OF poisonous snakes recent
" Mr.. Worth, nephew OF the late General
Worth, OF the Mexican war, said Al friend
OF mine was bitten on the leg by RATHER
in Illinois twenty years ago. lie buried
the leg IN earth for twenty-fOur hours, and
the gravity OF the earth drew the poison
and cured him, and every year within a
day or two Of, or exactly upon, the day on
which he was bitten, his leg turns spotted.
like the snake. A farmer in Tennessee,
another acquaintance OF mine, was bitten
| by one of these cOttOn-mOuthed mecca
sins-terrible nasty snake; they throw out
froth. like beer, from their mouths, and
wherever this froth touches the skin ii
poisOns. He made tea Of rattlesnake root,
lmbibed freely Of whiskey. and was cured,
but every year the foot that was bitten
turns the same color as the cotton-mouthed
m0ccasin.
IL know another man III the upper part
OF the State-snake regions, YOU know
who was bitten by arattlesnake. He made
tea of rattlesnake violet, applied a salve
made Of lion root and cured himself. He
was bitten on the ankle, and every year,
same as the Others, his leg becomes spotted
| like the snake. Anotherm whom know
was bitten on the leg by rattlesnake while
| in the mountains, three miles away from
any house. He made the best time be
could to farmhouse. but the limb was
frightiullv swollen by that time. The lady
there appeared to be considerably yersed in
rattlesnake bites. She ran oct in 'he yard,
caught chicken, split it in two and APP
piled it to the wound; it absorbed the poi
son very fast, turning green; then she
threw it away and applied another in the
same manner, till she had used twenty-one
! chickens and effected a complete cure.
This mans leg gets spotted yearly like the
others. The chicken cure is quite common
but generally a much smaller number il
sufficient. This was bad case.
Gan these people say that warning i:
given them OF this annual spottedness by 9
feeling OF nausea like sea-sickness, ther
the spots come and remain for week OF
so. This nausea doesn't incommode you
to any great degree, and you can't treat it
in fact, the men who tell me about it say
they don't know what TO do or to take
and medical science doesn't deal with rat
tlesnake bites, so they grin and bear it a
we'll as they can.
al have maidstone IN my collection
would like to show you. 1t is porous like
u pumice-stone, and ground to flat surfaces
: on three sides. 1t cures rattlesnake ant
mad-dog bites. When you want TO use i
you dip 1t in milk or tepid water to oper
the pores. Then you scarify the wounC
to make it bleed and apply he stone. Il
sticks like leech for perhaps an hour, alb
sorbing the poison till every pore is full
and then drops of. You clean it by dip
, ping 1t in milk again, and keep on apply.
ing 1t till the poison is under control; but
in case OF mad-dog bite it must be ar.
Piled within the first five days, before the
; spasms set in, because after that the blood
; L SO Initiated that the stone can't Absorb
tue poison quick enough to save life,
These mad-stones are not believed in uI
here, because people don't know anything
about them. Down South, where they arc
known, they are greatly used"