Report on the effects of artificial respiration, intravenous injection of ammonia, and administration of various drugs, &c. in Indian and Australian snake-poisoning, and the physiological, chemical, and microscopical nature of snake-poisons / by the commission appointed to investigate the subject.
- Date:
- 1874
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Report on the effects of artificial respiration, intravenous injection of ammonia, and administration of various drugs, &c. in Indian and Australian snake-poisoning, and the physiological, chemical, and microscopical nature of snake-poisons / by the commission appointed to investigate the subject. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![6. The thanatophidia, if, perhaps, we exclude the ophiophagus— and experience of the ophiophagus, in captivity at any rate, does not invalidate the rule—are, until provoked, perfectly inoffensive to all animals not required by them as food. They seldom assume the aggressive until they are rudely and accidentally disturbed. Thus, a native sleeping on the ground rolls over a venomous snake, or whilst walking in the jung]e or long grass, or in the dark, treads upon some part of _ a snake's body. In either case, the snake bites, if he can. It is in this way that a large proportion of the snake accidents happen. 7. ( A large number of lives would be saved annually, if the native population could be prevailed upon to sleep on charpoys, and if they got into the habit of never stepping from their beds at night without first seeing by means of a light that the ground below is clear and free from snakes. Much of the immunity which Europeans and educated natives enjoy from snake-bite is due to their using these very necessary precautions, especially during the rainy season, and in the mofussil to their never walking abroad at night without a light. There is scarcely a European of experience in the mofussil who cannot recount examples of lives (often their own) having been saved by means of these simple precautions. 8. But though these means are doubtless invaluable in protecting the lives of the most intelligent and less bigoted class of the community, there is a large class who, whether from prejudice or other causes, are not so protected. To preserve these against the assaults of the thana- tophidia of India it is absolutely necessary to institute a system for the widespread destruction of these reptiles. 9. In the Civil Surgeons and the Sub-Assistant Surgeons and the more intelligent of the Native Doctors scattered over the country, the Government has the agency for identifying any of the poisonous snakes in the Bengal Presidency. 10. In order to facilitate the recognition of the poisonous snakes met with in the provinces under the sway of His Honor the Lieutenant- Governor, I beg to submit a few simple rules :— A. Cobras (gokarrah, karris, fyc.) are all hooded and, with but few exceptions, have spectacles or an ocellus upon the back part of the neck. In the dead cobra the skin will be found to be hanging loose on each side of the neck, and if slight traction be made upon the loose skin simultaneously on each side, either the spectacles or the ocellus, as the case may be, will be brought into view. Then on opening the mouth of a cobra or any other venomous snake, a prominent part will be found on the front portion of the upper jaw on each side immediately before the eyes. If a piece of stick or a probe be pressed against these from behind forward, the fangs will be raised and brought into distinct relief. Every venomous snake is possessed of these fangs, whilst all non-venomous snakes are destitute of them : these non-venomous reptiles have a row of teeth. Cobras differ considerably in color. Generally speaking, however, they are yellowish, grey, or black, the two first- mentioned kinds being found usually in old houses and rubbish, and the last variety in paddy-fields or the open country. B. Daboia Ru&settl—Eussell's Viper (ulu bora, chandra bora, shl * chandra, 8fc.) is usually found about four feet long. It has a triangular-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b20410049_0172.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
