The record-union., 1893-03-06
STEAM As An ANTIDOTE.
Said to be a Cure for Rattlesnake
Bite.
Venom Expelled by Plan Which May
Easily be Put Into Operation When
Doctors Are northumberland
tion of the Treatment,

as HO4SOAIOIS SldhSS are IilOT6 OI less
common in many countries, and other
cases of poisoning often occur, says a
writer in Science, and as l have been the
means of saving life by a new process,
one that can be applied when it is TOO late
for the orthodox method of cutting and
sucking, and used by anybody with ma
terials at ones hand in every house, |
have concluded that should not be doing
my duty If did not make it known.
Some time since, while living in the
country, one of the incest little girls of
my acquaintance, about years of age,
was brought to me by an elder sister for
diagnosis and treatment. She was swell
ing from head to foot, becoming cold and
stiff in the limbs and losing her power to
answer or even understand questions.
AS L had been the means of effecting sew
! eral simple cures in the district, she was
sent in the hope that L would be able to
tell instinctively what was amiss and to
cure 1t as if by magic. AS the sequel
proved, the latter was almost real
| lied, notwithstanding that with re-
gard to the former L was quite at sea.
She had never known what a snak e
was, but, for strategic purposes well
| hAON II W ulaldSeIS Ol CulluT6u, Iau Oll6u
| been terrified with the name of bull
dog without knowing what that was
| (bulldog was the popular name for very
poisonous, pugnacious and gigantic ant,
| Myrmecia VindeL), so that whenever she
got stung or bitten by anything it was
| put to the credit of the bulldogs, as on
this occasion. She had screamed and fall
en- few yards from the house, and told
! her mother bulldog had bitten her on
the foot, and that was all she knew. The
| foot was examined, but from running
! baretooted was so full of scratches and
punctures that none could be fixed on as
certainly the marks of snake fangs. The
mischief had occurred about an hour be-
| fore l saw her, and while being examined
she was getting rapidly worse; the swell
ing, coldness and stiffness was becoming
| alarming; the lips as thick as ones
| thumbs; the hollows on each side of the
! nose were filled up level and of a steel
| blue and sea-green color: the arms, lower
limbs and body were becoming blotched
| with irregular raised parts, white and
| hard, the spaces between being sunk and
dark purple; the pulse, too, was getting
exceedingly feeble.
TRIED y SIMPLE REMEDY.
! Not thinking bulldog ant could pro-
| duce such effects, and not being certain
! that it was snake bite, l concluded that
it might be a spider bite, as my only
brother had nearly lost his life from that
cause. Even if the place of the bite or
| sting could have been found, it was
clearly too late to cut and suck, for the
poison was already all over the body and
| rapidly mastering the vital functions;
| besides which no one had an ammonia
! syringe for hypodermic injection. The
question was, what could be done? Pre-
cedent said send for doctor. But there
was none nearer than eight miles, and
! hot Ia yni Z fe,l,,o
die before doctor could see her.
In this conflict OF thought and feeling q
happy idea struck me. had proved in
my own person the power of hydro
pathic, hot-sweating pack to produce a
flood of perspiratiou and throw off im-
purities from the blood, and it now oc-
CURED to me that if could sweat the poi
son out from the whole surface it would
not matter where it got IN nor what put
it there; and, moreover, that if it We're
any good the danger would be over be-
fore anyone could get halfway to the
doctors, and If twenty minutes or so pro-
duced no benefit, the doctor could still be
sent for as last recourse. 1t was great
responsibility, but under the circun-
stances, l felt it duty and went to work
OF course there was no hot water ready,
but we soon made some and put it into
tub, into which the child was placed,
with blanket over all, tucked in close
round the neck to keep the steam in, but
leaving the head out. This was to open
the pores of the skin quickly. While in
this | spread a piece of oilcloth on the
table and pair of blankets on that. AS
soon as more hot water was ready a sheet
was wrung tightly out of it and placed on
the blankets. The child was laid on this,
and then first one side and then the other
Tapped over her, and it was tucked in
close about the neck; then the blankets
fOlInyynl and lastly the nilrlnth onA cha
was put to bed with another pile of blank
cts on top. Then some spirits were got
to keep the heart action up, which by this
time had almost ceased.
Before this the mother felt sure the
child was dying and was nearly frantic
with the idea. Hot brandy and water
was given in teaspoon every few min
uteS, and the case was watched with no
little anxiety. She had not been in the
pack over fifteen minutes when improve
ment became apparent. The dark rings
around the eyes were less marked, the
eyes themselves brighter and less sunk,
and the blue and green tints less ghastly.
AN HOURS SUCCESSFUL TREATMENT.
Our hopes began to revive and our fears
to lose their terror. In five minutes
more the improvement became so de-
cided that, with great gratitude, l felt that
the novel plan was grand success and
the danger over. She now became con-
scious, and, evidently feeling the benefit
of the stimulus, asked occasionally for
her ''toddy," which she, knowing as
much about it as she did of snakes and
bulldogs, called vinegar and milk"
AS the need and benefit of it grew less
she liked it less, and finally refused it.
After something over an hour we took
her out of the pack, and were delighted to
see that the swelling, blotches, stiffness
and discoloration had completely dis
| .TV
She was now washed down in cool water.
to close the pores and prevent catching
cold, and put to bed as usual. She was
left with strict injunctions that | should
be called if anything went wrong during
the night, but my sleep was not dis
turbed. Next morning | went to see my
! little patient, and found her at the break
fast table with as good an appetite as
ever. After that we can excuse the
mother for thinking that the hot sweating
pack was the panacea for ''all the ills that
flesh is heir tor
But some will ask, Why call this a case
of snake bite? When she recovered we
ance OF the bull dog" and she described
| it rs "a big, long, pretty thing" When
asked how many legs it had she said, No
| legs; q big, pretty thing, as long as my
arm, all shiny" But evidence still more
definite was at hand, A few days after
| the father, who was up-country at the
| time OF the occurrence, sank we'll near
where she had fallen, and where there was
a lot of long grass and loose timber, and,
| having struck water, stopped for a rest
and cup OF tea. When he returned a
black snake, having smelt the water, was
down in the well. He came to tell me that
| he thought he had caught Amy's bull
dog. Then we took her to the well with
/ out telling her anything OF what was in
it, and asked her il she had ever seen a
/ thing like that; and directly she saw it