Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1899-11-02
ANTIDOTE FOR SNAKE BITE.
Scientist Who is Extracting Serum
From Snakes.

DR.. Joseph Mcfarland, professor of
pathology and bacteriology at the Med
ico-Chirurgical college, Philadelphia,
has been carrying on for several
months experiments to secure an an
tidote for snake bites. He has gath
cred remarkable collection of snakes.
He says:
The experiments with snake venom
which | have been making since last
April are the first of the kind which
have ever been attempted in the United
States or with the poisonous snakes of
America, but | do not claim originality
Of method, as | am closely following
in the footsteps OF the noted scientist,
DR.. A. Calmette, director of the Insti-
tute Pasteur of Lille, France.
AT the present time DR.. Calmette
has upon the market an anti-venomous
serum, or 'anti-venene,' as it is called,
which he derived from the venom of
the cobra di capello or snake-eating CO.
bra of India, which is probably the
most deadly of all snakes Although
DR.. Calmettes anti-venomous serum,
has been seldom if ever used in this
country, it has been successfully en-
ployed and has saved many lives in
India.
'"Fo carry out my experiments along
all fines l have been anxious to secure
several specimens of the cobra iii ca
pello, but SO far | have not been sue
Cessful as sailors appear to be most
superstitious regarding these snakes
and it is most difficult to get a sea cap
tain to include them among his cargo
However, through the kin ness of Dr.
Calmette, with whom | have been in
correspondence, l have receive some
dried venom from these snakes and
expect to make some experiments with
it soon.
In regard to the serum which ]
hope to secure in the course of time,
may say at the outset that l wish tC
disprove the alleged value of alcohol
as the ideal antidOte for the poison OF
venomouS snake. WhiSkey is an I'M
failing aid of death after snake bite
and more persons die from taking it as
an antidote than from the bites. Wits
key increases the rapidity of the cir
culation. 1t helps the poison to jour
ney quickly through all the arteries
and veins.
ITO be sure, a small amount of slim,
ulant is not a bad idea, but it should
be slight, very little indeed. To give
all of any stimulant it is possible tc
drink at such a time is little short O.
criminality. There is no doubt tha
more persons die from the effect O.
drinking Whiskey to cure snake bite:
than from the bites themselves.
The bite of poisonous snake, if i
receives proper attention at once, is b!
no means as dangerous as most persons
believe it to be. In fact, think one o
the most important factors of danger
at such times is the physical fear c
the result. Instead of whiskey the per
son bitten should take strychnine lib
orally, and there need not be tn
slightest fear of too much being takel
into the system. Administer this poi
son until the bitten one has symptom
of lockjaw, and then it may be know
that the snake poison has been baff1et
and rendered entirely harmless. 0
course it should be taken d
soon as possible after the in
Fiction of the wound The first thin
to be done when one is bitten by a ser
pent is to tie a ligature (meaning
cord or something of that sort) tightl
around the limb bitten and a shor
distance above the wound
Undoubtedly there are different de
grees in the strength of snake venom