SNAKE-POISONING AND ITS TREATMENT. To the Editor
of the " Indian Medical Gazette." read have with Sir,?I great interest Dr. Vincent Richard's letter on the above subject, published in your issue for November. I am sure if he had seen the case reported by Dr. Cornish, he would not have questioned " that the man was poisoned," nor would he have doubted that the pain complained of had " nothing to do with the ligature." The pain was described as all through the chest, and was apparently connected with the markedly distressed breathing^ from which the patient suffered, as is usual in snake-poisoning; a quick pulse and anxious countenance make up the remaining symptoms presented during his stay in hospital. Dr. Shortt's experiments, afterwards confirmed by Dr. Fayrer and others, show that a dose of snake poison may be made small enough to cause symptoms of poisoning without being fatal, and this is what the-prompt suction of the wound, assisted by the ligature, did in the case under reference ; for there can be no reasonable doubt that a fresh cobra striking the finger sufficiently to draw blood with both fangs would inject a fatal dose of poison, and indeed I have seen many deaths within an hour from bites on the fingers. A. Porter,
Madras,
13th December 1880.
M.D., F.R.C.S.I., Surgeon, 4th District.
of the " Indian Medical Gazette." read have with Sir,?I great interest Dr. Vincent Richard's letter on the above subject, published in your issue for November. I am sure if he had seen the case reported by Dr. Cornish, he would not have questioned " that the man was poisoned," nor would he have doubted that the pain complained of had " nothing to do with the ligature." The pain was described as all through the chest, and was apparently connected with the markedly distressed breathing^ from which the patient suffered, as is usual in snake-poisoning; a quick pulse and anxious countenance make up the remaining symptoms presented during his stay in hospital. Dr. Shortt's experiments, afterwards confirmed by Dr. Fayrer and others, show that a dose of snake poison may be made small enough to cause symptoms of poisoning without being fatal, and this is what the-prompt suction of the wound, assisted by the ligature, did in the case under reference ; for there can be no reasonable doubt that a fresh cobra striking the finger sufficiently to draw blood with both fangs would inject a fatal dose of poison, and indeed I have seen many deaths within an hour from bites on the fingers. A. Porter,
Madras,
13th December 1880.
M.D., F.R.C.S.I., Surgeon, 4th District.
