The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-24
NATIVE SNAKE-BITE CURES.
MODERN SCIENCE ANTICIPATED nv
/ INDIA, EGYPT AND GUIANA.

The use Of anti-venomous serum as q
remedy for snake bite, by Prof. Calmette.
of the Pasteur institute, in Lille, and by
Prof. Fraser Of Edinburgh, Is generally
regarded as a natural sequence of Pas
tours hydrophobia treatment and the dis
covery Of an antitoxin for diphtheria. 1t IS
not unlikely. though, that the two investi-
! gators first named may have been iuspir-
ed by other examples also. A recent article
in the London Standard mentions prac-
| tce long in vogue among the Indians and
Creoles of Dutch Guiana AS a safeguard
against the poison of serpents, these peo-
pie make an incision in ones arm and rub
into the wound a concoction composed
chiefly of the juice of certain plant and
! the pounded head OF rattlesnake A trea-
tise on the snakes of East India, printed
in 1870, is cited to show that Burman
| snake-catchers evince no dread of cobra.
bites While the application of a vege-
table pulp chewed up to make il moist
and plastic is the ostensible cure employ
ed, the author of the treatise expresses the
opinion that immunity is really secured by
| a secret method-gradual incubation with
cobra-poison.
| 1t is suggested though. that protection
against one kind of snake does not neces-
sarily insure safety from others. native
of Burmah, who handled the cobra with
out hesitation, was exceedingly cautious
about picking up some one else's viper.
Says the Standard: "Dr. stradling is a
living witness 90 the truth of the theory
of incubation for snake bites. Not long
4 .,1I hot hla sxran
convinced that generally efiicacious an
tidote was not possible, but that by allow
ing rattlesnakes to bite his arm. and thus
inoculatng himself, he had proved that the
| human body could be protected against
| the severity of the poison"
| Two points of difference between the
| Frazer-Calmettc system of incubation
| and that just referred to may be noted in
| passing. The modern method of treat
| ment is to administer only a single sub
| cutaneous injection instead Of a series ct
| them and to employ blood serum taken
| from an animal that has first been rend-
| cred immune, and not the venom Itself.
| The horse, COW or rabbit from which the
| serum is taken Is. however, subjected to
| a succession of carefully graduated doses
| in order to bring about the desired posi-
! ton The latter process Is too tedious to
| be desirable in dealing with human sub
| ject. For several reasons 1t Is much bet
ter to dispose of a case with one opera
| ton, as in inoculating against smallpox.
Another illustration of the protection
| afforded by small quantities of poison in
| PRODUCED into the system In this manner
| Is afforded by the experience of beekeep-
ers. A man who had been in charge of
| an apiary for a long time once told an
| English investigator that when he first
| entered upon his duties he was laid up
| for several days by the intense iniam-
nation due to the stings but he soon be-
| came Indifferent to the venom. In citing
this case the Standard says: I'm proof
| of this the beekeeper emptied one hive into
| another in the presence of Mr.. Evans He
| had no protection over his hands and
| face and was stung several times during
the few minutes spent In the operation.
| Except for the sharp prick of the actual
| sting, he suffered no Ill effects" Several
other instances of the kind are mention
| ed In this connection.
| But whether the poison OF the bee or
| serpent, or serum from immune ana
| NAL, be employed in these voluntary and
| involuntary inoculations, IL viii be OBJ
| served that the agent is introduced into
| the blood, not into the stomach But as
| long ago as 1886 The Lancet, a British
medical journal, mentioned a practice of
| the latter character. A contributor to
| that publication declared that his Curl
| osity had been excited by discovering in
| South Africa that cattle and horses fire.
/ QueHlly OlGu from snake DlNe WHIT THE Ia
| lives did not seem to be seriously incon-
venenced thereby. Upon looking into the
| matter, he found that the people were lin
| the habit of extracting the poison gland
| from the snake Immediately after 1t rs
| killed, and squeezing 1t into their mouths
| and drinking the secretion. Thereby they
seem to acquire absolute immunity from
snake bites"
Therein no doubt, lies the secret of the
snake charmer's fearlessness. Says the
| Standard:
"Hasselauist. whose account of his jour-
ney to Palestine was compiled and puolish-
ed by his friend and master, Lime. gave
| the following conclusions as TO serpent
| charming in Egypt In his day. The art Is
| known only to certain families, who hand
| II down to their descendants; and those
| who know how to charm serpents never
! NEEDLE with scorpions The serpent-
| charmers eat seTpents making them into
| a kind OF BROTH and they never omit to
! partake of this food when going out to
| catch these reptiles. He was told that
| washing or amounting the body with the
| juice OF a certain plant contributed to the
| immunity; but as he could obtain no par
ticuars about this plant, he rejected the
| story
Bruce confirms Hasselquist in many re-
| spects, and adds further interesting de-
| tails In Cairo he saw a serpent-charmer
| who allowed himself to be bitten by ce-
| rastes viper, which fastened between the
| mans forehnger and thumb. Bruce de-
| tanned them an fun four hours but he
| showed no signs of pain or fear, or any In
| clnation to apply remedy. In order to
| convince himself that the viper had not
been mutilated by the extraction Of its pol
| son fangs Bruce made the reptile bite
| pelican and the bird died in thirteen min
| utes In another place he speaks of
man who with his naked hand, took one
I of these vpers from number of others
| ,4 boftnY,a of n To ON,
his head then in his breast, and tied 1t
| about his neck like necklace. Next IL was
made TO bite a hen, which died in a few
minutes and, to complete the experiment,
the man took it by the neck, and, begin
ming at the tail ate it, as one does a car
rot or a stock Of celery, without any SEEM
ing reDugnance
This practice of snake-eating still lin
gers in Northern Africa. Drummond Hay.
in his book on Western Barbary, published
in 1874, relates some of his experiences
with snake-charmers of the sect called
IzTfn hot