Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1884-08-07
THE LATEST DISCOVERY.
A Texas Colonel and his Remarkable
Cure for Rattlesnake Poisoning.

cure IOr 1atUIeSnake POISONING.
While M. Pasteur has been engaged
In discovering q cure for hydrophobia,
Col Houston, of Georgia, has discover
ed a cure for rattlesnake poisoning.
In both cases the cure is brought about
BY incubation with attenuated poison
germs, and although Col. Houston made
his discovery purely by accident, he is
as great benefactor to the race as is
NJ. Pasteur.
Col Houston was hunting in Geor-
gia swamp with two other colonies
when he was suddenly. and without
the slightest deliberation, bitten by a
rattlesnake. The two unDitten colonels
must have been men of unusual powers
of absorption, for when the accident
occurred there was not a drop of
whisky left in the party. Whisky, as
is well known, is an antidote TO rattle
snake poison if it is administered in
doses of pint at a time and the dose
is repeated at brief intervals. No at
tempt was made to give whisky TO
Col. Houston, which shows that all the
whisky in the three TASKS of the three
colonies was exhausted. Moreover,
the moment Col Houston was bitten,
the other two eeiOnels went in search
of a medical colonel. The services of
the latter would not have been sought
had not the bitten man been in i'm
minent danger, and he would not nave
been in danger if he had already had
his full share of the whisky carried by
the hunting party. Hence we find by
an exhaustive process of reasoning that
Col. Houston's two friends were men
of great capacity in point of whisky,
and they, doubtless felt, as they rushed
away after the nearest medical colonel,
that they had selfishly imperiled their
friends life.
Left to himself, Col Houston lay
down under cypress tree, wrote
brief letter in lead pencil announcing
that he was about to die at the hand of
q rattlesnake, and exhorting all surviv-
ing colonels to carry an extra supply
of whisky with them whenever engaged
in hunting in rattlesnake regions. Hav-
ing thus prepared for death, the colonel
closed his eyes and the local mosquitoes
prepared to do their best work.
The mosquitoes of Tuscumasaugaloo-
sanoosuc swamp are of immense size
and strength. They fell upon Col.
Houston in thick clouds, and bit him
at the rate of two hundred bites per
minute. In fifteen minutes the colonel
felt that he could bear the assaults no
longer, and thereupon rose up and be-
gan to flee from the swamp. He still
entertained the idea of dying, but re-
solved to die in some locality less thick
" infested by mosquitoes. The mos
ouitoes, however, followed him until
he was entirely out of the swamp and
half way to his own home. Finding
that the rattlesnake bite was causing
him no inconvenience, he resolved to
go home and go to bed, which he ac-
cordingly did, and woke up the next
morning perfectly well, to the un-
bounded establishment of all the colo
nels of that part of the state of Geor-
gia.
The facts of this case are beyond
dispute. Col Houston was bitten on
the calf of the right leg by large rattle
snake, was treated by million or so
of mosquitoes, and entirely recovered.
This establishes beyond a possibility of
. doubt that incubation with mosquito
poison is an antidote to rattlesnake
poison-a fact which will henceforth
deprive the rattlesnake of all peculiar
terrors.
We may assume from the analogy
furnished by the investigation of NJ.
Pasteur that the poison of the mosquito
is identical with that of the rattlesnake,
and differs from it only in the fact that
it is greatly attenuated. 1t cures rattle
snake poisoning in the same way that
inoculation with the attenuated virus
of rabies cures hydrophobia. We have
here an explanation of the origin of the
mesquite. That much-maligned insect
exists wherever the rattlesnake exists,
and is created solely in order that an
antidote to snake-poisoning may always
be within reach. Hereafter, when q
man is bitten by rattlesnake. he will
instantly expose large amount of his
surface to mosquitoes, and wait patient
ly until they have bitten him sufficiently
torender the rattlesnake's poison harm
less. No longer will the temperance
man be compelled, much against his
will, to take whisky with him on his
fishing and hunting excursions, as an
antidote to the possible snake poison
ing; and those timid souls who, in their
fear of rattlesnakes, have forced them
selves TO use whisky as prophylactic
will be able totally to dispense with
that loathsome and noxious medicine.
-NeaD York Times.