RATTLESNAKE POISON.
By HENRY H. CROFT.
Some time since, in a paper to which I am unfortunately unable to refer, a French chemist affirmed that the poisonous principle in snakes, or eliminated by snakes, was of the nature of an alkaloid, and gave a name to this class of bodies.
Mr. Pedler has shown that snake poison is destroyed or neutralized by means of platinic chloride, owing probably to the formation of an insoluble double platinic chloride, such as is formed with almost if not all alkaloids.
In this country (Texas) where rattlesnakes are very common, and persons camping out much exposed to their bites, a very favorite anecdote, or remedia as the Mexicans cull it, is a strong solution of iodine in potassium iodide.[1]
[Footnote 1: The solution is applied as soon as possible to the wound, preferably enlarged, and a few drops taken internally. The common Mexican remedia is the root of the Agave virginica mashed or chewed and applied to the wound, while part is swallowed.
Great faith is placed in this root by all residents here, who are seldom I without it, but, I have had no experience of it myself; and the internal administration is no doubt useless.
Even the wild birds know of this root; the queer paisano (? ground woodpecker) which eats snakes, when wounded by a vibora de cascabel, runs into woods, digs up and eats a root of the agave, just like the mongoose; but more than that, goes back, polishes off his enemy, and eats him. This has been told me by Mexicans who, it may be remarked, are not always reliable.]
I have had occasion to prove the efficacy of this mixture in two cases of cascabel bites, one on a buck, the other on a dog; and it occurred to me that the same explanation of its action might be given as above for the platinum salt, viz., the formation of an insoluble iodo compound as with ordinary alkaloids if the snake poison really belongs to this class.