Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1899-11-02

son until the bitten one has symptoms
of lockjaw, and then it may be known
that the snake poison has been baffied
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 a SER
pent is to tie ligature (meaning a
cord or something of that sort) tightly
around the limb bitten and 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 large size, and they fire.
quently knock their victim down when
they strike, SO great is the force of the
blow. 1t is a 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 small but beauti-
full reptile. | 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 nractinoI illustration
would not take a large sum of money
to induce me to put my bare hand and
arm into the cage of rattlesnakes, as |
have no fear that l 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 and made no attempt
to bite"
DR.. Mcfarland said regarding the
preparation of the anti-venomous Sc
rum: In the first place, the poison
is extracted from the snakes. After |
have secured the venom it is evapo-
rated in a vacuum and kept in a dried
state until | am ready to use it, when
1t 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 ii is necessary, when they
have already acquired a sufficiently
perfect immunity, to inject the venoms
derived from as large a number of diff
ferent species of snakes as possible
'fhe duration of the treatment is of
considerable length, at least year, be-
fore the serum is sufficiently active to
be used for the purposes of treatment.
"At the present time l have two
horses in the stalls downstairs which
are getting on well and which have
gone through the above process of in
oculation with snake venom. In this
particular | 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 a slight
oedema is manifested at the sight of
injection, trial bleeding of twenty
centimeterc of blood will be made, the
blood being taken from the juguiar
vein If the tests for antitoxic value
are favorable the horse is bled 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-half of / per
cent. of n 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, ii begins 10
exert it's influence Immediately after
il is introduced into the body, of which
the following experiment is a striking
demonstration. A rabbit, having re-
ceived intravenously two milligrams
of venom. two minutes later is inject
ed with five centigrams of the anti
venomous serum in the vein of the op-