Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-12-06
BITE OF THE RATTLEsNAKE.
Baekwoods Remedies Endorsed By
Science.


some of the old-wife medical super
stitions of the backwoods. For In
stance, the "yarb" doctor and old wo-
men Of rattlesnake regions say that
when a man gets over a rattlesnake
bite he has trouble in the wound
every year afterward.
Pathologists and toxicologists VINO
have studied snake poisons agree
that this is true, only the troubfe
doesn't occur every year. 1t happens
whenever the system gets out OF or
der.
The explanation Is simple. Snake
poison has the effect Of destroying It's
sue. OF course it has the strongest
effect in and about the wound where
the poison, in its course through the
veins, has not yet been diluted by the
blood.
Ever afterward that is a weak point
in the system. Any little disturbance
in the blood tends to break out al
that point Of the wound.
When this happens the old wives
say that 1t is the poison working. II
is not, Of course. 1t Is only the ex-
cess poison Of the body working in the
weak spot.
There was a case of this kind with
a rather unusual history in the Colo
RADIO hospital a few years ago. Tne
patient was a scout who had helped
the army make way for civilization In
the Rockies.
The Utes, Arapahoes and other In
dians Of that region were mostly uD-
supplied with guns in those days, bu'
they had a most effective kind Of pois-
oned arrow. They would catch a
bunch of rattlesnakes and taking a
fresh buffalo liver would make the SER
pents strike in it until the poison
glands were exhausted and the meat
reked with venom.
After that they would leave the
liver in the sun until it became putrid.
Into this mess they would dip their
war arrows. It made a nasty poison.
With such an arrow the scout was
struck in the leg. 1t carried, Of course,
not only snake venom, but all kinds OF
possibilities of blood poisoning. BY
good luck a first rate army surgeon
was at hand. He saved the scouts
life.
This happened in the spring. Every
spring after that the mans leg would
break out with sores and boils and
sundry other Affections. 1t looked as
though the case were proved for the
witch doctors.
The physicians went into the life his
tory Of the patient and found that long
before he stopped the poisoned arrow
he had been afflicted with a breaking
out every spring. He was one OF those
people who load up on the animal diet
all winter and need a cleaning out
when the season breaks. 1t had mere
ly settled in the weak spot. Next year
he attended to his liver earlier and
had no further trouble.
In the treatment Of rattlesnake bites
the rough and ready physicians OF the
backwoods scored again on the modern
scientist. In spite Of analysis and Ia
borious experiments and government
prizes, the treatment discovered by the
pioneers when. New York was a will
derness Is still standard.
Cut the wound, suck it out, burn or
cauterize the spot and keep the pa
tient drunk on whisky until the danger
is past. Medical men have tried all
manner Of substitutes, but come back
to the original method.
The sucking, Of course. Is to get out
as much poison as possible; the eau
terization prevents local infection, and
the whisky keeps the heart going In
it's task Of clearing up the blood.
Strychnine, which Is powerful heart
stimulant, has been tried as a substi-
tute, but with rather unsatisfactory re-
suits. There is the danger Of over
doing it and adding strychnine poison
to the patients troubles.
Then, again, whisky, while it stimu-
lates the heart, also deadens the
brain. That helps the patient to bear
the terrible pain Of snake bite at a
time when ordinary anaesthetics would
be dangerous.
So the old. untutored doctor Of the
backwoods has beaten modern science
in two counts.-New York Sun.