The new treatment of snake-bite : with plain directions for injecting / By George Britton Halford, M.D.

  • Halford, George Britton
Date:
1869
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The new treatment of snake-bite : with plain directions for injecting / By George Britton Halford, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    sensible to light. The trismus had increased, and made it difficult to administer the brandy and water. From 1 to 2 p.m. five minim doses of the liq. ammon. fortior in two tablespoonfuls of milk, were given every quarter of an hour, instead of the brandy and water. Then we again gave the brandy with calves' foot jeUy in place of the water. At 7 p.m. he was worse in every way ; the pulse was 136, so irregular as to be difficult to count, with frequent intermissions. The right pupil was dilated and fixed, the left contracted a little to light. We again injected the same quantity of liq. ammon, into the basilic vein of right arm. No apparent effects. He remained perfectly sensible when spoken to, but gradually sank, and died about 9 a.m. on Tuesday. Kjposf- mortem was made. On examining the injured thumb, I could only find two punctures ; they looked such as would be inflicted by a pin and were about an eighth of an inch apart.—I remain, yours truly, W. Langfoed, Eesident Surgeon. I think there can be very little doubt that this was a case of snake-bite, and I conceive the boy was past human aid before admission to the hospital. Possibly, larger doses of ammonia by the syringe might have restored him; at least, knowing what I do now, nothing would prevent me from injecting a sufficient quantity to produce effects, perhaps the small quantity did prolong his life. Still, it must not be expected of any remedy to have power illimitable—that would be absurd ; and, as I said before, in this case it was possibly applied too late. On considering aU that has gone before, it seems that ammonia roused and saved whenever it had been used within seven hours of the infliction of the bite. Instead of improving, all the cases had been getting worse under the old treatment, and the injection of ammonia was used as a dernier ressort, and not with much faith in its efficacy. A case was wanting, uncomplicated with other forms of treatment; such a case (the tenth, and last) has lately occurred in the practice of Dr. Eae, of Bacchus Marsh, who has furnished me with the following important particulars :— About noon on the 17th July, 1869, a robust man, twenty-three years of age, while stooping on his hands and knees to drink from a water-hole, felt a sharp stinging pain on the inside of the palm of the right hand, which he at the time supposed was caused by a thistle. On getting up, however, he saw a snake about eighteen inches long getting into the water directly under him. The man immediately ran to an adjoining hut, where the bitten portion of the hand was freely excised with a razor. The wound bled profusely. He then rode to my residence, a distance of six miles, when I saw him. Suction was employed, and the wound was cauterised. As there was no appearance of general disturbance, he was sent home, with instructions to send to me at once should drowsiness or any other untoward symptom appear. About three o'clock he became drowsy, and complained of numbness of the right arm, intolerance of light, oppression about the chest, and slight sickness. At this time he took one glass of brandy, but refused to take more, although urged to do so by his friends. ]No vehicle being at hand, he set out on horse- back to see me again, accompanied by two friends. On the way, the dis- position to sleep became so great that one of his friends had to support him on the horse, while the other kept up a pretty severe flagellation with a stick. When I saw him he could scarcely be roused. Shouting and shaking elicited only an occasional monosyllable. The face was puffed and congested, the surface of the body cold and covered with a clammy perspiration; breathing quiet and slow; pulse feeble and intermittent. The pupils were widely dilated, and scarcely responded to the stimulus of light. It was quite evident that unless very decided measures were at once adopted death was inevitable, and that in a very short time. My first impulse was to administer