River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1892-06-23
SNAKE POISON.
The Nature and Treatment of the Venom
of Serpents.

of Serpents.
The farg of a poisonous snake is
hollow throughout, having a perfect
canal from the base of the fang to the
point, where the opening consists of a
narrow longitudinal slit. The fang rep
resents a perfect hypodermic needle.
and when it is driven into the flesh the
poison is injected into the deeper It's
sues as dose of morphine could be in
jected by hypodermic syringe The
fang is attached to bone that is freely
movable. so that a fang can be raised
for attack or lowered entirely out of
sight into Il depression of the uppef
jaw just behind il. The poisonous fang,
are in the upper jaw only. other minrti
curved teeth being used only in swat
lowing.
The skins and tissues are so elastic
thai snakes can swallow quantities
much larger than the snakes them
selves. The process of swallowing on
their part is more or less an operation
of drawing themselves around their
food, forcing themselves outside of it,
The act may be compared to the pulling
Of a glove on the hand, or the drawing
of a pillow case over a pillow.
One reason why the poison of venom.
Gus snakes is so fatal is that il is driven
deep in the tissues through a minute
opening. and there is no chance of its
getting it out or of its being washed
out Where only scratch has been
made. or an open cut, DIR. Allen HIS
/ found by experiment that there is little
/ chance of the wound being fatal. rs the
/ poison can be washed out or sucked out.
+ The poison is secreted by large glands
along the sides of the head of the snake,
under and beyond the eyes. and at
/ tached to it is a sack in which the poison
is stored until it is needed a small tube
connecting this with the opening at the
base of the fang.
The poison is thick. viscid liquid
usually OF a bright yellow color. and
consists Of an albumenoid which would
/ do no harm if taken in the stomach un-
/ less there were same cuts or abrasions
Il The mouth by which it could get into
4 the blood. The poison would do no
harm in the stomach, because it would
| be digested. Several different ingredi-
| ents of the poison have been separated
4 by chemists, and each produces its own
| symptoms. The effects of the combined
poison seem to be exerted chiefly on the
nervous system, having paralyzing in
fluence over various nerves The very
first immediate symptom of the poison
is tendency to heart failure, and the
last fatal symptom seems to be the grad.
ual failure of the respiratory function.
A strange fact about the poison is that
it almost always contains living germs,
or bacteria, which in themselves would
be less likely to cause blood poisoning
even if the true poison of the snake had
not been fatal.
The fangs are very often cast off anC
replaced by new ones Sometimes there
will be four fangs visible instead o.
two. In the cavity behind the fang:
are usually four or five reserve fangs in
various stages of development, some Of
them consisting of mere points
The safest method of treating any
snake bite, DIR. Allen has found, is tc
cut into the wound as thoroughly a,
! possible and at once. Whisky and other
stimulants are used chiefly to prevent
heart failure, and in most cases the use
of them is overdone. The bite of tn,
northern form of rattlesnake is not APP
to be fatal if treated. and excessive
amounts of whisky in themselves will
cause death. No one can drink a quar-
of whisky with impunity. In all eases
the first thing to be done is to cut int
the wound SO that the poison can b,
sucked out and the proper application:
made.
In this line DIR. Allen has given Z
great deal of study to the use of suci
applications hypodermically to destro,
the poison locally and check, as far as
possible, the rapidity with which it is
absorbed in the system, in addition &c
the internal use of remedies.-N. Y.