Scientific American Supplement, No. 421, January 26, 1884Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement, No. 421, January 26, 1884
Various
Science -- Periodicals
The native population of India, in spite of the contrary accepted
opinion, are remarkably free from resort to nostrums that lay claim to
being antidotes. The person inoculated by the cobra is at once seized
by his friends, and constant and violent exercise enforced, if
necessary at the point of stick, and severe and cruel (but
nevertheless truly merciful) beatings are often a result. In this we
see a direct application, without in the least understanding them, of
the rules laid down to secure certain physiological results, as for
the relief of opium and morphia narcosis, which serpent poisoning
almost exactly resembles. The late Doctor Spillsbury (Physician-General
of Calcutta),[10] while stationed at Jubulpore, Central India, was
informed late one evening that his favorite horse keeper had just been
dangerously bitten by a cobra of unusual size, and therefore more than
ordinarily venomous. He at once ordered his gig, and in spite of the
wails and protestations of the sufferer and his friends, with whom a
fatal result was already a foregone conclusion, the doctor caused his
wrists to be bound firmly and inextricably to the back of the vehicle;
then assuring the man if he did not keep up he would most certainly be
dragged to death, he mounted to his seat and drove rapidly away. Three
hours later, or a little more, he returned, having covered nearly
thirty miles without cessation or once drawing rein. The horse keeper
was found bathed in profuse perspiration, and almost powerless from
excessive fatigue. _Eau de luce_, an aromatic preparation of ammonia,
was now administered at frequent and regular intervals as a diffusible
stimulant, and moderate though constant exercise enforced until near
dawn, when the sufferer was found to be completely recovered.
[Footnote 10: London _Lancet_.]
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