CROTALUS CASCAVELLA.
We commence the publication of our provings by the symptoms of the Crotalus Cascavella, not so much on account of the importance of the symptoms which the poison of this dangerous reptile produces on the healthy body; but because the unfortunate experiment which was attempted a few years ago, on a sick person, offers a fair opportunity of contrasting the hazardous and uncertain results of a merely clinical experimentation, with the positive advantages of Hahnemann’s method of proving.
A popular notion,—and the therapeutics of the Old-School was gradually built up of such notions,—attributed to the poison of the crotalus cascavella, the power of curing the elephantiasis of the Greeks, a malady which, in Brazil, goes by the name of morphea, or Lazarus’-evil. A disciple of Hahnemann might have verified this belief without any difficulty, and without endangering human life. But the Old-School who does not acknowledge our method of proving, had to remain in doubt about this curative virtue of the cascavella, until a patient and physician would be found sufficiently bold and logical to apply to a frightful disease a still more frightful remedy. Mariano José Machado, fell a victim to his heroic attempt, and, by his death, dissipated the illusory hopes founded on the curative virtue of the poison of the cascavella. Now what conclusion shall we draw from this fact? That the practitioner who advised the attempt, has been imprudent and censureable? God forbid that we should commit such an act of injustice. A patient has succumbed to a clinical experiment; let us honor the heroic courage with which he braved the serpent’s bite; let us honor the zeal of the practitioner, who persuaded him to risk a few years of a loathsome existence for the chance, though uncertain, of a cure. The unhappy Machado has been saved a few years of cruel suffering; but what a joy it would have afforded him and his miserable fellow-sufferers, if the remedy for their loathsome disease had been known! what a glory it would have been to the physician who should have conducted them to the haven of relief![1]
However, a homicide has been committed on this occasion, and though the perpetrators may be free from blame, yet we may justly condemn the deceitful science that has to resort to such dangerous practices, in order to augment its resources and enlarge its boundaries. Like unto the vile poisoner who, when his poisons fail him, resorts to the stiletto, as a means of gratifying his cupidity or his ambition, allopathy sacrifices human life, and, like him, will have an ignominious end. The solemn homicide, which was committed a few years ago in this capital in the name of science, may be of use to the world, by hastening the glorious recognition of the homœopathic healing art, in these distant regions. If it was permitted as recently as four years ago, when the name of Hahnemann was scarcely known in this country, to kill a man for the purpose of trying a drug, we venture to say that, at this period, nobody would either dare to propose or accept such a murderous practice.
It will be seen, in studying the symptoms which we have obtained from the poison of the crotalus, that there are very few among them which resemble the tuberculous lepra, and that this terrible malady will, therefore, have to be cured by some other means. Fortunately, homœopathy teaches us the method of discovering a suitable remedy in the place of the crotalus poison, which we now know has to be abandoned as a remedy for lepra, and the success which we have already obtained, enables us to indulge the hope, that the Brazilian lepra, as well as the elephantiasis of the Arabs, will soon disappear entirely, under the operation of the suitable dynamised homœopathic agent.
The crotalus will become a useful adjunct to the lachesis proved by Doctor Hering; it is my belief that it affects the organism longer and more thoroughly than the latter, and will effect many cures which had to remain incomplete under the use of lachesis.
The serpent from which this poison has been extracted, was caught in the province of Ceara. In this operation I was aided by the young practitioner who alone, four years ago, had protested against the dangerous experiment which was made in the hospital of the leprous patients, of which he was at that time chief physician. His noble heart revolted against the practice of risking human life, for the sake of a medical doctrine, and, soon after, he imitated the glorious example which Hahnemann had set him fifty years previous, by abandoning a lucrative practice, and the direction of two hospitals. Having first protested against the bite which the reptile was caused to inflict upon his patient, he now voluntarily exposed his own life for the purpose of extracting the poison, which was to be suitably attenuated in order to convert it into a curative agent. Several drops of the poison spirted on his face, and might have ended his life, if the inner corner of the eye had been touched as I first feared it was. At this day, when his suspicions have been abundantly confirmed by the physiological provings, Dr. J. V. Martins, is one of the firmest adherents of our rising School. May he live to see the error which he had instinctively rejected, completely extinguished by the brilliant light of medical truth.
This terrible serpent is found in the province of Ceara, whence it was brought to Rio Janeiro. This species generally attains a length of from four to five feet but the animal from which the poison was taken for our provings, was three feet long. Its oval-triangular head one half of which is provided with shields, shows a round depression in front of the eyes, which are covered with a large elliptical shield, serving as a lid. The body is big, conical, its movements are sluggish; its upper surface is covered with scales, the dorsal scales being keeled and somewhat lanceolate, the scales of the tail being quadrangular and smaller. The belly is provided with one hundred and seventy large transversal plates; there are twenty-five plates belonging to the tail, the three first of which are divided in shields. The extremity of the tail is furnished with seven or eight capsules of the consistence of parchment which, when agitated, produce a shrill sound. The color of the crotalus is a yellowish-brown, much lighter under the belly, with twenty-four or twenty-six regular long rhomboïdal lines on each side of the back. When irritated and during the excessive heat, the crotalus spreads a very fetid musk-like odor. The molar teeth which are few in number, but long and excessively poisonous, are inserted in exceedingly dilatable jaws. Every body knows that the poison of this reptile acts with a frightful intensity; and it was not without great danger that Doctors Mure and Martins succeeded in obtaining a few drops of it, by compressing from the living animal the gland which secretes it.