The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1905-06-03
GETTING EVEN WITH SNAKES

GETTING EVEN WITH SNAKES
soical Mem Trying To Discover Anti
dote to Virulent Poisons.
4ne method pursued by medical SCI
ence IN Its treatment Of the more fatal
diseases, IL to set back fires; that is.
use the cause Of the malady to effect
lts cure, says the Boston Transcript.
This Is particularly true Of those that
oeveiop active and virulent poisons, or
more particularly the germ diseases.
Inls has now been brought forward to
nopeful experimentation with the pois.
on OF venomous snakes. That is a dan
ger tnat perhaps does not possess much
persone1 interest for jewellers in cities,
Dut II genuine antidote for the bites
OF all kinds of serpents from the cobra
10 the copperhead could be discovered,
thousands Of painful deaths in the old
world and the new could be annually
prevented. Even the United States
possesses its share Of poisonous rep
Tiles In Its mountain regions and it's
semitropical belt, and a great many
thousand people would feel more COM
Portable did they know that an ade-
quate antidote to their venomous at.
tacks existed.
IN the Bengal province of India the
statistics show that over a thousand
deaths occur from snake bites every
year. and in the other districts the
fatalities from the same cause are pro-
portionally more numerous. The cob
"a is the principal offender, and as it's
bite, unlike that Of the rattlesnake and
most other venomous serpents, causes
a comparatively painless death, it may
be preferable to undergoing expert
ences with famine or bubonic plague.
Still, there are many other sections Of
the world where life is still regarded
as worth living and where the bites of
poisonous serpents are very much
dreaded.
1t is stated that DR.. Marshall of the
pathological department of the Uni
versity Of Pennsylvania has allied him
self with scientists of Europe in the
attempt to discover an efficient anti
dote. It is proper that this enterprise
should be international, because ii re-
suits Of value are obtained the whole
habitable globe will become their bene-
1ciary and perhaps spots on it not now
considered habitable will then become
so. DR.. Marshall is now in Europe
making his experiments, but he has
enthusiastic co-laborers working for
him at the university and at the store.
house Of the Philadelphia zoo. To this
latter post twice a month representa-
tives Of the university repair to milk"
the rattlesnakes and other venomous
specimens. The snake is throttled so
it is impossible for him to use his
fangs and the poison sacs are then
pressed, yielding perhaps a teaspoonful
Of yellowish venom. When the entire
stock has been MIXED the snakes are
returned to the storehouse to secrete Z
new supply.
The product is taken to the labora.
tory, filtered and mixed with salt solu.
tons until it crystallizes and is then
consigned to DR.. Marshall in Europe,
who experiments upon guinea pigs,
rabbits and dogs to test it's toxicolog.
ical effects. Enough progress has been
made to learn that snake venom is not
a simple poison, but is composed Of
several constituents of proteid ma
ture, each of which acts on one tissue
class Of cells. The only human subject
upon which the antitoxin has been
tested was the colored janitor of the
ZOO, who was bitten by an escaped
rattlesnake and recovered by the use
Of the serum. Serpents will never be
agreeable associates, but their neigh
borhood will be robbed Of most of its
terrors should this scientific quest at
tain completely successful issue.