The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1904-09-09
THE RATTLESNAKE'S BITE.

tions of the backwoods. For instance
the "yarb' doctors and old women of
rattlesnake regions say that when a
man gets over a rattlesnake bite he
has trouble in the wound every yeal
afterward.
Pathologists and toxicologists who
have studied snake poison agree that
this is true, only the trouble doesn't
necessarily occur every year. 1t hap
pens whenever the system gets out OF
order.
The explanation is simple. Snake
poison has the effect of destroying tis-
sue. OF course it has the strongest
effect in and about the wound where
the poison, in its conrse through the
veins, has not yet been diluted by
the blood
Ever afterward that is weak
point in the system. Any little dis
turbance in the blood tends to break
out at the point of the wound.
When this happens the old wives
say that it is the poison working. 1t
is not, of course. 1t is only the ex-
cess poison of the body working in the
weak spot.
There was case of this kind with
a rather unusual history in a Colora-
do hospital few years ago. The
patient was a scout who had helped
the army make way Tor civiliz ,tion in
the Rockies.
The Utes, Arapahoes and other In
dams of that region were mostly un-
supplied with guns in those days, but
they had most effective kind of pois'
oncd arrow. They would catch a
bunch Of rattlcsnakes and taking a
fresh buffalo liver would make e
serpents strike in it until their poison
glands were exhausted and the meat
fairly reeked with the 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 poi
son.
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 first rate army surgeon
was at hand. He saved the scouts
life.
This happened in the spring. Ev-
cry 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
history 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
animal diet all winter and need clean
ing out when the season breaks. 1t
had merely settled in the weak spot.
Next year he attended to his liver ear
ly 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 laborious experiments and Gov
ernment prizes, the treatment discov-
cred by the pioneers when New York
was a wilderness is still standard.
Cut the wound, suck it out, burn
or cauterize the spot and keep the
patient 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
its task of clearing up the blood.
Strycbnine, which is powerful heart
stimulant, has been tried as a substi-
tute, but with rather unsatisfactory
results. There is the danger of over
doing it and adding strychnine pois-
oning to the patients troubles.
Then, again. whisky, while it slim
ulates the heart, also deadens the
brain. That helps the patient to
hear the terrible pain of snake bite at
time when ordinary anasthetics
would be dangerous.
So the old untotored doctor of the
backwoods has beaten modern science
on two counts.
Mrs. C.-Do you believe that cures
can be affected by the laying on Of
hands?"
Mrs. A.-Certainly. | cured nv