The leader., 1905-08-19
l SNAKE-BITE CURE.
ANTIDoTE FOR POISON TAKEN
FROM THE REPTILE.
The Secret Of Mexican Convicts I'm
Arizona Prison Opinion Of
the National Museum
Physician.

AT4&Oua GEASo4~-QP4utuu O1
the National Museum
Physician.
The Moki Indian is still q lap ahead
OF his civilized brother on the subject
Of rattlesnakes. That is, he is strong
ly suspected, the suspicion amounting
almost to a certainty, Of having an
antidote for rattlesnake poison, while
the white man has been able to ind
none. There is fortune and fame
awaiting the man who will find an an
tidote for the poison, for while the
mortality from rattlesnake bites is by
no means so large here as the death
rate from poisonous snakes, especially
the COBRA, in India, the rattler is the
most dreaded snake in this country.
and is found in one form or another
all over fhe warmer portions Of the
United States.
The latest story as to an antidote
for the poison came out of Arizona. It
was reproduced in the Washington
Star some time ago, and purported
to tell how B. F. Daniel. superintend
ent of the territorial proson, had
found at last, through the agency of
three Mexican convicts. certain cure
for the snake bite. It was not
whisky, either, so long regarded as a
sovereign remedy. The Mexicans in
question explained that there was a
small gland in the interior Of the
snake filled with brownish black
fluid This liquid, applied at once to
bite, was said to entirely neutral
lie the poison. It was quite a long
and circumstantial story, both in
genious and interesting.
The Star submitted the question to
the National museum. None of the Of
ficials particularly connected with rep
tile poison research happened to be
In town, and 1t was suggested that the
question be submitted to DR.. Weir
Mitchell, considered the greatest au-
thorlty on reptile poison in this coun-
try DR.. Mitchell kindly replied, but
said that the antidote in question was
one of number of paper remedies, .
all alike worthless. 1t seems that the
small sac referred to does actually ex
ist 1t is the bile gland of the snake,
but it has no curative properties.
DR.. Mitchell has been at work on
the snake poison problem for over 40
years and has tried every civilized
and uncivilized antidote that has come
his way, but without finding anything
which seems a specific for the poison.
He has even shown that alcohol is by
no means a specific, and that rabbits
in an advanced state of intoxication
fall easier victims to the venom than
those not drunk. At the same
time it would be hard to convince any
old westerner that whisky did not
come near to being the only real and
sure snake medicine. The theory on
which whisky is SO largely prescribed
is that the snake poison acts as
blood disintegrant, and the whisky be-
ing stimulant, keeps the heart action
going till the crisis in the poisoning
is past.
There have been a number of sup
posed antidotes tried, permanganate Of
potash, carbolic acid, and various sui
phites, but none of them seems to neu-
traIize the poison. In fact, it has
been found that while carbolic acid,
applied Immediately to the seat of
the injury, will act as an antiseptic
and cleanse the wound, it is about as
deadly in the system as the snake
poison itself. One curious thing
about the poison is that it is harm
less if taken internally. A man may
several times over had it been in
jected in the blood, but it is harmless
in the stomach so long as there is no
abrasion by which it can get into the
circulation.
Meanwhile the Moki Indians go mer-
rily along and handle the snakes in
their dances, and, according to eye
Witnesses, are actually bitten by them
without suffering any i'll effects 1t
Is supposed that they have some secret
remedy, and all the ingenuity of the
whites for the last so years has been
addressed to finding what the remedy
is. The Mexican government has tried
to buy it from them, but they have
always evaded the request A great
many white men have tried to pene-
tratc the secret without success. DR..
]. Miller for years attended the
dances every season, and was finally
admitted to the Moki priesthood. He
was promised every year that the next
year he would be initiated into the
secret of the antidote, but he died
without finding it out.
There is just one theory on which
1t is possible the Mokis work. DR..
Mitchell found during his experiments
that pigeons could be Injured to the
poison so that they could stand a
6ose 20 times strong enough to kill
them when the treatment first com
renced. In fact, one pigeon was
brought to stand 80 times the lethal
dose, though this was an exceptional
case. 1t is possible that during the
period of initiation, when the Mokis
are being prepared for the dance, they
are Injured by repeated small doses Of
the poison. This, however, is mere
speculation. If true it would show
that man in the rattlesnake country
could be at least temporarily vac
cinated, as 1t were, against the venom.
But whether or not the protection
would endure is another question.
rr Vxra. nrSA 49,.