Prussic acid in small doses.—Give ammonia or strong coffee; pour cold water on head and chest, rubbing dry with warm towels, and give free air; in large doses no treatment will avail.
Strychnine.—In Australia, South Africa, and some other countries strychnine is extensively used; and a correspondent thus writes in the Field concerning it:—“It sometimes happens that dogs are poisoned, accidentally or otherwise, by nux-vomica, or its alkaloid. It may not, therefore, be useless to inform the reader what treatment should be adopted in such a case. The poison acts very rapidly, tetanus comes on, and the dog soon dies, exhausted by the violence of the fits. If the poison have only been just taken, and no fits have occurred, the best remedy is tannin, in the form of pounded galls, or the areca-nut powder so much used in kennels. But if the dog be already seized with tetanus, the only remedy is the permanganate of potash. I have found, in several experiments on animals, that, when once the tetanic spasm has set in, permanganate of potash is the only remedy giving any chance of recovery; if administered in time it is most successful. Condy’s fluid, now so much used in the stable and kennel, is the most convenient form for its administration. A wineglassful of Condy’s fluid, slightly diluted, may be given. During the treatment the dog must be kept quiet, and touched as little as possible. This treatment, which has never yet been suggested (to my knowledge), I beg to offer to those readers who may be in need of it; but I cannot speak of its effects on the human subject.”
Alcohol in excess.—Evacuation of the stomach, followed by hot coffee, external stimulants and friction.
Suffocation by gases, &c.—Removal to pure air, cold water on face and chest, artificial inducement of respiration, friction of surface, followed by hot coffee or brandy and water.
Animal poisons—stings of insects, snake-bites, &c.—If a sting remains in the wound, extract it, and apply a strong wash of ammonia in spirit or water, or, in its absence, warm oil; if faintness follows, some stimulant, as brandy and water, may be given freely for snake-bites; in addition to this cauterise the wound with nitric acid or a white-hot iron.
The trappers of America place great dependance on strong whisky; if great exertion can be maintained, so as to produce excessive fatigue and perspiration, the system may throw off the poison.
In the Cape colony an antidote for snake-bites is sold under the name of Croft’s Tincture of Life. This was analysed, when we were in Grahamstown, by the faculty, and the ingredients they found were pronounced good; but there were others which the maker would not reveal. We have seen several testimonials as to its efficacy. The medical men, however, arranged a case somewhat larger than a fifty-likeness carte-de-visite album, containing lancet, ligature, cupping-glass, a bottle of ammonia, lint, and a piece of lunar caustic; but it was much too large to be carried about by any traveller in expectation of being bitten by a snake. We therefore took a small tin vesta match box, put a lancet, small bottle of ammonia, lunar caustic, in a stoppered bottle, lint, and ligature in it, and kept it in the waggon. We are happy to say we never had to put it to the test, for we were never bitten by a serpent. Sometimes a little judicious humouring of the patient does as much good as medicine.
In the Bushman country around Lake Ngami, where the entrails of the Ngwa or poisonous grub are used to give such fatal effect to the insignificant-looking arrows, a small plant with a yellow star-like flower, called the Kala-haetlwe, is used as an antidote. Fat is also rubbed into the wound and also given internally till the effect of the poison is neutralised.
The snake-stone of India, if it has any good qualities, seems to owe them entirely to its absorbent properties, and these would be more efficiently performed by scarification and the cupping glass.
Ipecacuanha, applied as a poultice, has been by some considered a most valuable antidote to snake-bites. This antidote is equally effective in the stings of scorpions and other venomous reptiles.