The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-08-21
Snake Bites and the Remedies.

There is NO such person living as a
snake charmer. The ability to control
snakes by supernatural power is as
sumed by many travelling side-show
people, but they know very we'll that
they do not possess it. The only time a
man can ever handle rattlesnake with
any degree of safety is after a long
course of training. The rattlesnake
possesses far more intelligence than is
ordinarily given credit to it. A snake
will learn to know its master lust as a
cat or dog will, and the method en-
ployed by all persons who desire to
handle snake is 10 confine 1t in small
glass case until it becomes perfectly
sensible of its inability to escape. II
will be very restless at first, but after a
few days it displays its intelligence by
remaining quiet and apparently perfect
" contented with its unnatural home,
but the moment the door of the cage is
opened it will grow restless and make
bold attempts to gain its freedom.
Well, after a snake thus admits its
knowledge of mastery, the tanner will,
by feeding it constantly and spending
as much time as possible near the cage,
inspire confidence In the reptile that no
harm is intended it, and when that is
once accomplished. as the snake ALWAYS
acts on the defensive, it is an easy mat
ter TO handle it. The moods of the
snake, however, must be watched very
closely, for once in while they become
savage for short time and then it is
dangerous for any one to handle them.
Every few physicians know how to
successfully treat snake bite. | have
had hundreds of eases come under my
observation and have seen many won
derful cures. In countries where the
venOmous rattlesnake abounds and bites
are frequent, incision as a treatment is
almost unheard of. The common anti
dote used is whisky in large quantities,
which acts to a good effect where the
patient is not addicted to drink, but
should he be partly saturated with al
cohol, then it is of no avail. A cure
not generally known, and which acts
almost by magic, is to take live chicken
and cut it open and place it over the
wound. In two or three minutes the
fowl becomes thoroughly saturated with
the poison and assumes dark green
color. Then place a fresh one on the
punctured parts and still third one,
which is usually sufficient in ordinary
cases. A never-failing remedy that is
used to a great extent in Florida, is a
combination of lion root and rattlesnake
violet. The former is made into tea,
and a salve is made of the violet Be-
fore using this, however, a poultice
made of salt and indigo is applied to
the wound to draw out the poisonous
matter. A maidstone is also said to act
with the same effect on a snake bite that
1t does on that of a mad dog. pur-
chased one of these stones some time
ago, but have never had occasion to use
it, and am awaiting anXiously to test its
efficacy on either dog or reptile poison
ing. Another remedy easily applied
and always at hand is to dig a hole in
the earth and bury the injured part in
it. There is something peculiar in con-
nectiOn with snake bite. and | want to
tell you of it. If man should be bit
ten on the arm, say, to-day, just one
year from now, within a day or two OF
the anniversary of the occurrence, the
arm will begin to swell and yellow spots
resembling those of a snake appear,
and this will recur each succeeding
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