It may be acceptable to my readers, while upon this subject, to be informed of the antidote; viz. the volatile alkali, or eau de luce. A few drops of this diluted sufficiently in a wine glass full of water, if taken in time, and repeated every two or three hours, or even more frequently, has been known to counteract the venom after its effects had been so fully ascertained as to leave but little chance of recovery. I never went out shooting without a small bottle of this, closed by a ground stopper, in my tin box of apparatus. Fortunately, although I have been repeatedly in imminent danger, and had snakes dancing the hayes all around me, no occasion ever presented itself for having recourse to my precautionary bottle!
The following extracts, from a very interesting communication made by W. Boag, Esq. to the Asiatic Society, will set this matter in a proper form, and qualify any person to judge of the danger, from the several symptoms prevalent, in ordinary cases, when the venom takes effect. It may be proper to premise, that many who have been bitten by snakes of the worst description have not been affected; merely owing to the thickness of their cloathing, by which the noxious fluid has been absorbed.
Mr. Boag informs us, that ‘The symptoms which arise from the bite of a serpent, are, commonly, pain, swelling, and redness in the part bitten; great faintness, with sickness at stomach, and sometimes vomiting, succeed; the breath becomes short and laborious; the pulse low, quick, and interrupted: the wound, which was at first red, becomes livid, black, and gangrenous; the skin of the wounded limb, and sometimes of the whole body, assumes a yellowish hue; cold sweats and convulsions come on, and the patient sinks, sometimes in a few hours, but commonly at the end of two, three, or four days.
‘This is the usual progress when the disease terminates fatally; but, happily, the patient will most commonly recover; a reflection which should moderate the fears of those who happen to be bitten by snakes, and which, at any rate, should, as much as possible, be resisted; as the depressing passion of fear will, in all cases, assist the operation of the poison.
‘The volatile alkali is the remedy mostly employed by physicians, both in India and in Europe; but the belief which formerly prevailed, that it possessed some specific power, which corrected the poison, seems to be now very generally relinquished; and it is now acknowledged to have no other action than that ascribed to it by Mr. Williams, (of Benares,) of stimulating the vascular system to a more vigorous exertion.