Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1910-11-17
DON'T BOOZE EN-,
IF SNAKE BITTEN.
The Glass That Cheers Won't
Cheer You Then.

New York, November f6.-It has
been tradition among the laihy with
a substantial backing from the rank
and file of the medical profession, that
whiskey was good for snake bite-or
the results of snake bite. This theory,
it would ppear from the following ar
ticle which appears in the. New York
Medical Journal, has been exploded:
ut must Ibe confessed that the
achievements of Therapeutics i'm saw
ing the lives of persons stung by
poisonous snakes have not, on the
whole, been very brilliant Yet there
IS no lack of persons who are conf
dent that certain measures may al
most surely he depended upon. Ut is
but few years since a large proper
ton of our professional brethren in
Australia trusted implicitly i'm the sub
cutaneous use of strycLmine; nil
through medical literature there runs
vein of confidence in the topical a,p-
plication Cf permanganate of potash
and the general public locks upon
huge draughts of whislzey as we'll
nigh infallible. But it would, We
think, be quite Mnwise to look for
specially good results from any one
OF these Vaunted remedies.
SIT is we'll that tie subject should
be studied at every opportunity am
treated off in our literature. 1t lis d
good thing, therefore, THAT Lieut.. w
Culbert Lyon, of the Army Medical
Reserve Corps, should have contrib
.uted to the October number of the
Military Surgeon AN article dealing
with the stings OF venomous snakes
in the United States and their l.,
ment
He says of whiskey that it is most
dangerous as the venom is powerful
depressant to the special nerve cen
terss particularly those of the respira-
tion and heart, and the effect produced
by the oyerstimulation off pint or
more of whislkey only adds to and in
creases the already existing condition
of depression.
eff whiskey is employed at all, he
thinks it should be administered in
small doses, a little over an ounce
every half hour, to assist in combat
ing shock. This, we think, is the view
generally held by the medical profe3-
sion at the present time.
1.-THE author approves of construct
ing the limb above the wound and then
messing the parts freely by "a cruciab,e
cmt, which should include both flng
so as to allow of consid-
erable hemorrhage, and efficient sue
ton. The ligature, he remarks, may
Ee made of a handkerchief, a neck
tie, garetr, a suspender, or a few
blades of stout grass. He would then
nine of a tfortieth to thirtieth of
grain, from time to time, according
to the patients condition as regards
shock
"Witk respect to the ligature, he adj
gises its temporary relaxation at in
terVals, both to prevent glngrene and
to admit little of the venom into the
general circulation, SO that the sys-
tenn may dispose of it piecemeal, 50
to speak The relaxation should last
for a few seconds only and should be
practice devery fifteen minutes for an
hour The patient should remaln re-
cumbent am dIalbsolutely quiet for five
or six hours.
Or Lyman has no great opinion of
permanganate, regarding It
as much overestimated and of very
little, if any value He thinks that
chemical naturalization CT the poison
in the wound is best accomplished by
injecting five or six minIims of a fresh
ly prepared 10 per cent. solution of
chloride at ten CIR twelve dlf-
ferent points within two inches of the
wound, as advised by Calmette. Call
mette's anti-toxin, known as anti
he regards as a very valuable
and he regrets that It
IS not more easily obtained in the
United States"