THE

ST. LOUIS MEDICAL ERA.

A MONTHLY JOURNAL OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY.

VOL. X.

OCTOBER, 1900.

NO. 2.

NITRATE OF POTASSIUM (SALTPETER) AS AN antidote TO THE VENOM of the RATTLESNAKE, CENTIPEDE, ETC.

BY F. HOWARD, M. D.

[CONTINUED FROM SEPTEMBER ERA.]

Saltpeter, given as before stated (in September ERA), seems to neutralize the poison of the above named reptiles in the blood. A case in point: I knew a person who had been bitten by a rattlesnake, and, as is often the case, every year (about the same time) the affected parts would swell up and become painful, often breaking out with a painful eruption, ending in suppura

tion.

Four years after the snake-bite, at the time of the annual poisonous manifestations, he was persuaded to take a tablespoonful of saltpeter, dissolved in a glass of water, for two successive days.

The usual poisonous symptoms did not appear; and, though that has been many years ago, these painful annual manifestations have never reappeared.

I knew of the case of a Mexican, bitten by a large rattlesnake, who was barbarously but effectually cured by another Mexican, as follows: A bunch of Spanish daggers were quickly cut and bound together. With their sharp points the wound and its vicinity were freely jabbed, until the whole was one mangled, bleeding mass. To this bleeding surface common salt (chloride of sodium) was rubbed in with an unsparing hand. More salt was then bound on the part, and left there. Under this simple treatment the Mexican was enabled to resume his heavy work (grubbing up mesquite trees) in several days.

I knew another party, who was bitten by a large rattlesnake, who was cured by drinking freely of a tea made from the bruised leaves and twigs of the common and generally-considered obnoxious cockle-burr plant. The decoction was also used locally.

There is a small, spotted weed, somewhat like bear-grass, found here and there all over southwest Texas, that I have had pointed out to me by several reliable persons (a Baptist minister for one) as a certain cure for snake-bite.

Like the cockle-burr, the decoction of this plant is used freely both internally and locally.

I believe myself that there is virtue in all these remedies. But, from many and varied sources, extending from Louisiana to southwest Texas, the evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of saltpeter as being, par excellence, the remedy in snake and centipede-bites, etc.

Whisky is not an antidote, but simply a stimulant in cases of snake-bite. I have known great harm done by its reckless use in such cases. Still, oftentimes in such cases, a stimulan is called for. Then whisky, used with judgment, may do great good in holding up the patient, and tiding him over the crisis.

I have known two cases (among our old negro servants) of rattlesnake-bite treated by the bold and free use of whisky alone. While both cases recovered slowly, they both, as long as I knew them, had the painful annual outbreaks of the uneliminated poison. When saltpeter has been used in the treatment of snake-bite, I have never known these painful annual manifestations to occur.

Perhaps the old Louisiana planter had a happy combination of these remedies. He always kept on hand a strong solution of saltpeter in whisky. If any of the family, black or white, was snake-bitten, this combination was freely used internally and externally. And while no doctor was ever called in, and no other remedy used, he never lost a case from snake-bite.

(I wish to say here, in parenthesis, that there is a little, clumsy, black spider, with a red speck on his back, the kind of spider the dirt-daubers stuff their mud-houses with, that is very common under old rails and wood, etc. This spider is more poisonous than any snake of this country except the rattlesnake. Saltpeter is useless in combating the venom of this little reptile.) I have found equal parts of aqua ammonia and sulphuric ether,

in doses of twenty drops freely diluted, every one-half, one, two, or three hours, an excellent remedy in such cases. Dilute it one-fourth, and apply locally also. Less dose for children. Be very careful, after the painful symptoms are relieved, to give medicine sufficient and very large doses are often required-to move the bowels freely, as obstinate constipation is often a sequela of the bite of this insect. In some of these cases a hypodermic of morphia and atropia adds charmingly to the treatment, as there is nearly always a great deal of pain, nervousness and embarrassment of respiration.

The only case of tarantula-bite I have ever known occurred in the person of an elder brother. He was poking a straw into the tarantula's hole. The insect came out and bit him on the finger. My brother simply sucked his finger-"only that, and nothing more!" He never had an unpleasant symptom.

To sum up: In snake and centipede-bite, etc.: (1) Suck the part thoroughly. Don't be afraid. The poison is not near as dangerous in the mouth or stomach as in the wound. (2) Bandage tightly between the wound and the heart. This ligature should remain for some time, and then be loosened little by little. The sudden loosening of the bandage, by throwing all the poison into the circulation at once, may cost the patient his life. I knew of just such a case in the practice of a smart Alek young doctor. (3) As soon as possible give to an adult one tablespoonful of pulverized saltpeter, dissolved in a glass of water. To a child under ten years, one teaspoonful; intermediate ages, intermediate doses. Then scarifying the wound, if possible, apply wet saltpeter to the wound. One dose of the saltpeter internally is generally sufficient. If indicated, repeat the dose in six hours. If the first dose is vomited, repeat the dose in one, two, three, four or five hours, etc., as indicated. If necessary, stimulate the patient with whisky, aromatic ammonia, or ammonia and sulphuric ether, equal parts, as before directed, per orem; or sulphuric ether, strychnine, glonoin, etc., hypodermatically. If the poison is slow to be eliminated from the patient's system, put him on "the elixir iodo-bromide of calcium" (Tilden & Co.) till several bottles are taken.

Von Ormy, Texas.

"INJUN" POISON.

BY W. B. PARSONS, M. D.

While on a professional visit to the Jocko Agency on the Flathead Indian Reservation, a short time ago, I was called to the one room log cabin of Michel Revois, the blind interpreter of the tribe. He and his wife-both full-blooded Indians-are the only occupants, all of their seven children being dead. It is, indeed, a quiet and lonesome place. His wife, who was ailing, doesn't speak English. He speaks it perfectly. Several years since, he and other members of the tribe were taken to Washington City by the agent-the late Major Ronan-where a treaty was consummated. While "in the East," Michel consulted several eminent oculists, all of whom pronounced his disease of the eyes incurable. He is resigned to his fate, and, being more than ordinarily "up" on eye diseases, takes pleasure in relating, to the minutest detail, and in technical language, all the doctors said about his eyes.

In speaking about his dead children, in a most pathetic manner, he remarked that one of them-a young man-was killed by injun (they all say injun) poison. On being asked to explain, he said that injuns use several poisons for the purpose of killing those whom they dislike-that the practice now is rare to what it was years ago. The two mostly used are prepared as follows: First, a "rough frog" (evidently he meant a toad) is procured, tied by the hind legs, head down, to the limb of a bush about a foot from the ground, in a secluded place. After a few days, it dies, swells up, its tongue protrudes (see photograph), it decomposes and a colored fluid drops from its mouth which is caught in a shell or cup placed under it. (This is done, of course, only during warm weather.) This fluid is secretly mixed with the food of the intended victim, and, when taken into the stomach, causes death in from two to three months-the symptoms being sickness of the stomach, spitting a great deal, weakness and

emaciation. In the case of his son, it was mixed with some berries. The other injun poison is made by obtaining a piece of flesh of a dead injun-preferably one who has been dead about three months-drying and pulverizing it and clandestinely mixing it with food-the same as the toad juice. The symptoms are much the same, but it kills somewhat quicker. This is just as he told it. It is a well-known unexplained physiological fact that most venoms, notably those of rattlesnakes, vipers and mad dogs, when taken into the stomach, are harmless, if there be no abrasion. A signal example in the vegetable kingdom, of like action, is curare. Notwithstanding Michel's intelligence and friendship for the whites, I could not prevail on him to consent to have his and his squaw's pictures taken. When I made the request, he and she had an earnest, prolonged injun powafter which they were much less communicative than before. Missoula, Montana.

Wow,

QUININE VS. HEMATURIA.

BY FLOYD Clendenen, M. D.

We hear of great blame being laid upon quinine as a cause of hematuria; and we have observed as many cases of this kidney difficulty where no quinine had been given, if not more, than when it had been used. There are several physicians in this city who give quinine on all occasions-in doses, too, from three to fifteen grains-and while we condemn this practice as bad, we have not heard of any cases of hematuria being caused by it. We think people in certain localities more liable to the disease in question than others. Certainly that difficulty is not prevalent in this locality, nor is it usually fatal here. Therefore, from what we have learned of hematuria, we are led to the conclusion that climate, and not quinine, is the main cause of this disease. True, quinine, when unscientifically given, may augment the trouble. So might other stimulants; but this certainly cannot be placed against quinine. Because it is a drug having great power for evil when improperly used, does not detract from its good qualities when properly given. It certainly should not, in any case, be given in overdoses or when the system is not properly prepared for it, or when in a condition contra-indicating the drug.