Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1899-10-30

into the system. Administer this poi
son until the bitten one has symptoms
of lockjaw, and then it may be known
that the snake poison has been baf1ed
and rendered entirely harmless. Of
course it should be taken as
soon as possible after the in
Fiction of the wound The first thing
to be done when one is bitten by SER
pent is to tie a ligature (meaning a
cord or something of that sort) tightly
around the limb bitten and a short
distance above the wound.
Undoubtedly there are different de-
grees in the strength of snake venom
according to the snakes. The rattle
snake to be most feared is the swamp
diamond back These snakes often
grow to a large size, and they fire.
quently knock their victim down when
they strike, so great is the force of the
blow. 1t is curious fact that the larg
er the rattlesnake the more deadly
seems to be the bite. The water moe
casin Of the south, or 'cottonmouth, as
it is locally called, is another danger
Gus snake.
''There are only two venomous
snakes in the United States, namely,
copperhead and the harlequin snakes.
The latter snake is a small but beauti-
full reptile. I might say, however, judg
ing from my experience in handling
venomous snakes, which has been con-
siderable, that they are, without an ex-
ception, extremely loath to bite. In
fact, as a practical illustration, 1T
would not take a large sum of money
to induce me to put my bare hand and
arm into the cage of rattlesnakes, as I
have no fear that I should be bitten.
would hesitate a longer time, how
ever, before handling the copperheads,
as they are a much more active and
vicious snake. However, several of
them got loose in this room the other
day and were caught by my assistants
without difficulty @nd made no attempt
to bite"
DR.. Mcfarland said regarding the
preparation of the anti-venomous Sc
rum: I'm the first place, the poison
| is extracted from the snakes. After
have secured the venom it is eyapo-
rated in vacuum and kept in dried
state until I am ready to use it, when
it is dissolved in distilled. sterilized |
water, after which it is ready for ex-
pertinent upon the lower animals.
'The best method of procedure for
the purpose of vaccinating large ami
mails destined to produce anti-venOm-
GUS serum consists in injecting them |
from the outset with gradually increas-
ing quantities Of the venom mixed with
diminishing quantities of one in sixty |
solution of hypochlorite of lime. The |
condition and variations in the weight |
Of the animals are carefully followed |
in order that the injections may be
made less frequently if the animals do |
not thrive well. Quantities of stronger
and stronger venom are in turn inject
ed, first considerably diluted and then
more concentrated, in order that the
animals (horses) may give a serum
equally active for the various sub |
stances which determine the various
local actions it is necessary, when they |
have already acquired sufficiently |
perfect immunity, to inject the venOmS |
derived from as large a number of diff
ferent species of snakes as possible |
The duration Of the treatment is of |
considerable length, at least a year, be-
fore the serum is sufficiently active to |
be used for the purposes of treatment. |
cat the present time [ have two |
horses in the stalls downstairs which |
are getting on we'll and which have |
gone through the above process of in
OculatiOn with snake venom. In this |
particular I have been associated with |
Dr. E. NJ. Hanck, veterinary surgeon.
when the time arrives that the in
jections of large amounts of snake ven
ON are accompanied with little eleva-
ton of temperature, and only slight |
oedema is manifested at the sight of
injection, a trial bleeding of twenty |
centimeterc of blood will be made, the
blood being taken from the jugular |
vein. If the tests for antitoxic value
are favorable the horse is bled a large
quantity, the blood being collected in
sterile bottles and placed in a refriger-
ating room for sufficient time (abOut
twenty-four hours) until coagulation
allows the clear serum, which contains
the antitoxin, to separate The serum
is drawn off by pipettes and preserved
by the addition of one-haIf of 1 per
cent. of suitable chemical.
"As with the venoms. so with the
anti-venoms; disappointment is likely
to meet the experimenter at the last
minute. All the horses will not fur
nish the same degree of antitoxicity in
their serum, and the test upon rabbits
will sometimes show that the serum
from a horse most carefully treated is
weak.
although the anti-venomous serum
does not act directly upon the toxin,
but only through the cells, it begins TO
exert it's influence Immediately after
it is introduced into the body, of which