D.—Bungarus cæruleus.
XVII.—Case reported by Major S. J. Rennie, R.A.M.C., Meerut, N.W.P., India.
“A twelve-year old Hindu boy, named Moraddy, was brought to me at 6 p.m., on July 10, in a semi-comatose condition, with commencing paralysis of the respiratory muscles. I was told that the child was sleeping on the ground, when he was bitten in the left hand. He immediately felt very great pain and giddiness, and his arm began to swell. Two small wounds were clearly visible, corresponding to the marks of the fangs of a krait, or Bungarus cæruleus.
“The child had salivation, and ptosis of both eyelids. Respiration was difficult, and deglutition impossible; the pulse was 110 and dicrotic. The patient’s breathing was of an abdominal character; the surface of the body was covered with cold sweat. The child soon became lethargic and collapsed; his condition appeared absolutely desperate. I gave a subcutaneous injection of 12 c.c. of antivenomous serum, and commenced artificial respiration, which I continued for half an hour in order to give the serum time to take effect. In forty-eight hours the symptoms gradually disappeared, and the child became quite well. Diplopia of the left eye persisted for a few days, but this also entirely passed away.
“This case shows that, in Calmette’s antivenomous serum, we have a very powerful remedy against snake-bites, which may take effect even in desperate cases. It further proves that the serum will keep for a very long time, even when exposed to all the vicissitudes of the Indian climate, for the serum employed by me had been in my possession for nearly four years.”
E.—Sepedon hæmachates (Berg-Adder).
XVIII.—Case reported by Mr. W. A. G. Fox, Table Mountain, Cape of Good Hope.
“On February 9, 1898, I was summoned to the Town Council’s Camp to treat a native who had been bitten by a berg-adder in the left leg, just below the knee. I immediately injected a dose of Calmette’s antivenomous serum in the left flank, and the wounds were washed. The injection was given two and a quarter hours after the accident. The patient was already very ill when I saw him, and I have no doubt that, without the antivenomous serum, he would have died.
“On the following day he had recovered, and I saw him again three months later; since then he has not experienced any functional trouble.”