Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1894-02-16
AN AUTHORITY ON SNAKES.
DK. wYETH SAYS THE RATHER Is
A NOBLE ANIMAL.
Popular Misinformation-Ha Harmless
Reptiles With Bad Regulations
Degrees of Venom.

will not be such general
dread of them, particularly of rattle
snakes.
'The rattlesnake," said the Doctor
to Sun reporter who asked him to
tell something about snakes, ard
assured him, in answer to the Doctor s
question, that it was snakes out of
boots, not in them, he was after,
"the rattlesnake is the king of
| reptiles. He is as brave as he is
| powerful, never attacks without
provocation, and then never without
warning. l should never kill one
unless / wanted it to dissect or unless, :"
and here it was the father, not the
scientist, who spoke, 81 found one
near where my children happened to
be playing"
The Doctors opinion of the rattle
snake is based entirely upon his OBJ
servations of its personal courage and
| fairness in battle he does not seek to
deprive it of any of its reputation as a
particularly venomous serpent. Its
venom is the most poisonous of any
American reptile, and is second only,
so far as is known, to the cobra. The
order of ''toxicity' in serpent venom
that is, the comparative deadli-
ness-is cobra, rattlesnake, Ameri-
can copperhead, moccasin, and
spreading adder. The chemists
have been experimenting with the
venom of rattlesnakes until they are
able to talk about it like an expert
witness in a poison murder trial. DIR.
| Wyeth, in the second edition of his
work on surgery, in considering the
subject poison, quotes DIR. Weir
Mitchell as saying that rattlesnake
venom is from greenish to straw tint
in color, and there have been chemi-
cally isolated from it three proteids-
venom peptone, venom globuline and
venom albumen. 1t is the globuline
| that is intensely poisonous, and its
toxic properties are destroyed by
bromine, iodine, sodium and potas-
SUM permanganate. If you do not
happen to have any of these in your
vest pocket. DIR. Wyeth gives the equal
weight of his authority in pronouncing
whisky Tor alcohol in some other form
as the best physiological antidote.
DIR. Wyeth is an Alabamian and
lived in his native State for many
years when, as he says, snakes were
very plentiful.
''There it was" he said to the Sun
reporter, ''that learned to know and
respect the many virtues of the rattle
snake. l also observed many physi-
cal traits of that and other snakes
which disprove many popular beliefs
concerning them. The belief seems
quite general, for example, that the
rattlesnake coils itself in preparing to
spring. Now the facts happen to be
that it neither coils before delivering
a blow nor springs, SO that it leaves
the ground entirely, in its delivery.
''When a rattler has made up its
mind that it is time to strike it raises
the forward half of its body, the pos
.terior half, or about that proportion,
remaining on the ground, sometimes
in loop. The forward part is drawn
back upon this fixed portion in the
shape of a letter S. The stroke is
made by quick Strengthening out of
the forward half in a straight line,
but the part of the body on the
ground remains in one spot, as does
straightens out his body and arm to
deliver blow. The rsttler can re-
peat that blow with surprising rapidity.
If you hold stick at distance where
the snake can strike il the poison is
emitted. 1t has n peculiar sweetish
and quite unpleasant odor
Il saw an account, recently in a sci
entitic paper, written by scientist, OF
Suicide of Rattlesnakes. l very much
doubt both the intention and the pos
sibility. 1t is well established sci
entific fact that serpent venom pro
duces no poisonous effect in the tis-
sues of the reptile which produces it,
or IN the tissues of any venom-pro-
ducing reptile. That snakes do bite
themselves sometimes | know from OBJ
servation, for i have seen them do so
when striking at stick with which
they have been pinioned. Ii is posi-
BILE too, that they may bite themselves
when enraged from any other cause,
but | doubt the suicidal intent"
DIR. Wyeth is inclined to dis
count much of the belief in the dead
illness of reptile poisoning.
''The venom of the scorpion in the
/ Orient does sometimes produce
death, he says, ''but the sting of the
| North American scorpion is not dan
gerous | have Jailed To hear of q
single death from scorpion bite, nj
though | have made personal inquiry
/ OF humorous physicians practicing IN
| the South and West. Once in North
| Carolina | was out surveying, aud In
stcadying myself while fixing an IN
strument | placed my hand on decay.
ing stump of tree, and was bitten ON
the palm by scorpion, which clung
/ To my hand when | raised II. | shook
of the reptile, expressed the wound,
and sucked II, too, | believe. No in
convenience, whatever, resulted from
| the wound.
The tarantula II also considered
very poisonous. This Is also an error,
/ I believe. DIR, Thomas A. Pope.
of Texas, who has had great exper
ienee IN this matter, wrote t. me thai
Ia all his practice he know Of bat one
/ death resulting from tarantula bite, n
/ that ease death was not produced from
/ the direct effect of the poison, but by
choking. caused ~ swelling of the
neck, where the man hal been bitten.
d Il. saafUa A. ~.