The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-09-07


gusting habit of splitting at persons
they dislike. This is nasty enough,
but an unintended experiment shows
that there is every reason to believe
that this salivais sometimes poisonous.
It was intended to remove male
guanaco from It's inclosure and several
persons were occupied in its transfer.
The guanaco bit one Of these in the
wrist and spat its saliva on the ear of
another. The bite caused severe
blood poisoning in consequence, while
a young man, one Of the keepers, on
whose ear the creatures saliva had
fallen, had a minor form Of blood
poisoning affecting the ear and neck.
STATE OF ANIMAL s TEETH.
Most poisoning caused by bites, is,
however, probably due TO the state Of
the creatures teeth. The dog tribe,
which have very wet mouths andwet
tongues, keep their teeth fairly clean,
while herbivorous animals do not. A
dogs teeth are nearly always beauti-
fully white, those Of a horse or
camel yellow and dirty. Capt. Chris
tie, in some notes on sport in Somali
land, recently published in Country
Life, states that native cook who
served him had been disabled for two
years by camel bite received during
our former Soudan expedition. The
work done by the tongue and saliva in
constantly cleaning the carnivorous
animals teeth is proved to some ex-
tent by the different results Of being
ssclawed'' and bitten respectively by
the same creature.
Wounds made by the claws Of leop-
ards are poisonous, while those caused
by the teeth are less frequently septic.
Sir Samuel Baker notes that sthe
wounds from the claws Of the leopard
are exceedingly dangerous; the animal
is in the habit Of feeding upon car
casses some days after they have been
killed; the flesh is at that time begin
ming to decompose, and the claws,
which are used to hold il as it is torn
by the teeth and jaws, become tainted,
and poisoned sufficiently to insure
gangrene by incubation he recon-
mends that all wounds caused by leop-
ards or tigers should be thoroughly
syringed with coldwater mixed with
thirty sixth part Of carbolic acid,
whenever the wound is dressed.
Probably modern treatment can i'm
prove upon this recipe.
Apart from all concomitant danger
Of blood poisoning, the severity Of the
bites of fesh-eating animals is out of
allproportion to the weapons by which
they are inflicted. The teeth, even of
the largest carnivora, are merely the
sspearhead," but the force which
"works" these instruments is prodi-
gious. It seems as if for moment
the animal threw all its bodily energy
into the combination Of muscular
action which we call ssbite." In
most cases the mere shock of impact,
as the animal hurls itself on its enemy,
is entirely demoralizing or inficts
physical injury. A muzzled mastiff
will hurl man to the ground in the
effort to fasten its teeth in his throat
or shoulder. Then, the driving and
crushing force Of the jaw muscles is
astonishing. The swapping power Of
an alligator's jaws is more or less in
telligible. They are long, and fur
nished with a row of pointed teeth
from end to end. But the jaws of the
lion, leopard, tiger, otter, ferret or
baboon are short, and the long and
pointed teeth are few. Yet each of
their. species has biting power which
in proportion to its size is almost
incredible.
BITES OF THE cARNIvoRA.
Sir Samuel Baker, who had long
and varied acquaintance with the bites
Of the carnivora, noticed that the
tiger usually seized an Indian native
by the shoulder, and with one jaw on
one side and the other on the other
bit clean through chest and back.
"The fatal wound was the bite, which,
through back and chest, penetrated to
the lungs" Europeans are killed by
the tigers bite as we'll as lacerated by
the claws. A Mr.. Lawes, son Of a
missionary Of that name was killed
after being shaken for a few moments
by tigress, which then left him. He
died next day. In nearly all cases the
bite penetrates the lungs. This kind
Of wound is characteristic of the at
tack of many nf the felidae Scarcely