Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1891-07-16
TEMPERANCE NOTES.
A coHoL FOR SNAKE BITES.


,,.ct from a Lecture by J. II. Kellogg,
! n of the Battle Creek Sanitarium.
psople who are ready to admit that
~ effects of alcohol upon the human
.onaeh are bad under ordinary condi-
- and rarely necessary for medical
MOSES still think that nothing but
sr1iskv viii cure a person bitten by
-,,lesnake. However, | am inclined
think that there is more of supersti-
IAN than fact in regard TO the supposed
h.,s6t TO be derived from the use of
.leobol TO c0unteract the poison of the
..ttlesnakes At any rate / am quite
.rre that a whisky bite is great deal
rorse than a snake bite. But you say
man was bitten by rattlesnalxe and
| i drank large quantities of liquor and
+. ala not make him drunk-a man who
rss not addicted to the use of liquor
and fraction of the quantity would
have made him dead drunk under oidi-
,.rv mstances-doesn't that prove
vbslzy to be an antidote? Or here is
mother man bitten by rattlesnake
rbotook alcohol and did not die. Such
| distances prove nothing. In the first
| rlaee, the reason that man who has
| hsen thus bitten does not become drunk
~ taking liquor is simply because the
noison of the snake is more virulent
| han the poison of the whisky. 1t is
/ iust the same with poisons which are
rven as medicines Under certain con-
5tions morphine can be administered
h doses which would prove fatal to one
| h health. Nature has her attention so
thoroughly directed to the disease that
che paws no attention to the medicine.
I'M the other hand, some become ex-
ceedingly susceptible to the medicine.
ia person is really poisoned by the
virus Of a rattlesnal1e, the whole sys-
ten is aroused in alarm and conse-
/ ouently alcohol can be taken in enor-
| mons quantities and the body does not
/ 1--WE it recognition. 1t might also be
/ ne case that the person was under
| such state of mental excitement that
/ the alcohol would have no effect. Many
| man in the army was wounded quite
| severely and yet so carried away by the
| excitement of the battle that he did not
/ know until afterward that there was
| ANYTHING the matter with him.
But you ask further, how about the
cases Of individuals who took whisky
ior the bite and got well? Many be-
leve that if a person bitten by rattle
snake can be made dead drunk he will
recover But the truth is that if you
. can make him dead drunk. it merely
shows that he was not effectively Bit
en The apparatus with which a rat
tesnake deals out his virus is of bone
and made exactly like hypodermic
syringe, being sharpened off with a
4 chisel point 1t is curved so that if it
strikes the skin indirectly, it strikes on
he rounded side and does no harm for
he poison slides off. Frequently a
snake will make two or three fruitless
TRUSTS and will empty his poison bag
before he pierces the skin at all. The
thrust has to be exactly right else the
instrument will glance off and will not
4 penetrate the skin, or by getting too
4 much excited the snake spills out his
n poison too soon and little or none gets
s into the system. Or, again, If the bite
+ kmade through clothing, very little of
5 the virus will penetrate. Probably not
more than one case in ten receives
. fatal bite and the remaining nine
eases are the ones which get well when
treated with whisky for they would get
well anyway.
The proper thing to do is to imme-
diately extract the blood and the
y poison from the wound by sucking
twth the mouth. The wound can
first be squeezed and cleansed
and then drawn with the lips with per-
feet safety. If the part is inacces-
sble, get another person to perform
tie service for you. There are other
other remedies such as soaring with a
'sd-hot iron, the application of caustic
, 9of carbolic acid. but in the majority
acases these things are not at hand
md to wait to secure them would be at
Tie risk Of life. Reported by Helen l..
Nanninp