====== POISONING BY A COBRA.====== 

{{anchor:s2}}-The following extract from Buckland's Curiosities of Natural History, we copy from the Evening Post.

{{anchor:s3}}Mr. Buckland placed a rat in a cage with the snake to witness the effects of the poison. {{anchor:s4}}After it had been bitten he examined it and says:-

{{anchor:s5}}"No external wound could I see anywhere, so I took out my knife and began taking the skin off the rat. {{anchor:s6}}I soon discovered two very minute punctures, like small needle-holes, in the side of the rat, where the fangs of the snake had entered. {{anchor:s7}}The parts between the skin and the flesh, and the flesh itself, appeared as though affected with mortification, even though the wound had not been inflicted above a quarter of an hour, if so long.

{{anchor:s8}}Anxious to see if the skin itself was affected, I scraped away the parts on it with my finger-nail. {{anchor:s9}}Finding nothing but the punctures, I threw the rat away and put the knife and skin in my pocket, and started to go away. {{anchor:s10}}I had not walked a hundred yards before all of a sudden I felt just as if somebody had come behind me and struck me a severe blow on the head and neck, and at the same time I experienced a most acute pain and sense of oppression at the chest, as though a hot iron had been run in and a hundred weight put on the top of it I knew instantly, from what I had read, that I was poisoned; I said as much to my friend, a most intelligent gentleman, who happened to be with me, and told him if I fell, to give me brandy and <span grade2>eau de luce,</span> words which he kept repeating in case he might forget them. {{anchor:s11}}At the same time I enjoined him to keep me going, and not on any account to allow me to lie down. {{anchor:s12}}I then forgot everything for several minutes, and my friend tells me I rolled about as if very faint and weak. {{anchor:s13}}He also informs me that the first thing I did was to fall against him, asking if I looked seedy. {{anchor:s14}}He most wisely answered, "No; you look very well.{{anchor:s15}}" I don't think he thought so, for his own face was as white as a ghost; I recollect this much. {{anchor:s16}}He tells me my face was of a greenish yellow color. {{anchor:s17}}After walking, or rather staggering, along for some minutes, I gradually recovered my senses, and steered for the nearest chemist's shop. {{anchor:s18}}Rushing in, I asked for <span grade2>eau de luce.</span> {{anchor:s19}}Of course, he had none, but my eye caught the words "Spirit, ammon. co., or hartshorn, on a bottle. {{anchor:s20}}I reached it down myself, and pouring a large quantity into a tumbler with a little water, both of which articles I found on a soda-water stand in the shop, and drank it off, though it burnt my mouth and lips very much. {{anchor:s21}}Instantly I felt relief from the pain at the chest and head. {{anchor:s22}}The chemist stood agast, and on my telling him what was the matter, recommended a warm bath. {{anchor:s23}}If I had then followed his advice these words would never have been placed on record. {{anchor:s24}}After a second draught at the hartshorn bottle, I proceeded on my way, feeling very stupid and confused.

{{anchor:s25}}On arriving at my friend's residence close by, he kindly procured me a bottle of brandy, of which I drank four large wine-glasses, one after the other, but did not feel the least tipsey after the operation. {{anchor:s26}}Feeling nearly well, I started on my way home, and then, for the first time, I perceived a most acute pain under the nail of the left thumb; this pain also ran up the arm. {{anchor:s27}}I set to work to suck the wound, and then found out how the poison had got into the system. {{anchor:s28}}About an hour before I examined the dead rat I had been cleaning the nail with a pen knife, and had slightly separated the nail from the skin beneath. {{anchor:s29}}Into this little crack the poison had got when I was scraping the skin to examine the wound. {{anchor:s30}}How virulent, therefore, must the poison of the cobra be! {{anchor:s31}}It already had been circulated in the body of the rat, from which I had imbibed it second-hand."

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====== DOCUMENT DESCRIPTOR ======

^ Source: | The AMERICAN HOMOEOPATHIC REVIEW Vol. 01 No. 06, 1859, pages 287-288 |
^ Description: | Poisoning by a Cobra. |
^ Remedies: | Naja (?) |
^ Author: | AHomeo01 |
^ Year: | 1859 |
^ Editing: | errors only; interlinks; formatting |
^ Attribution: | Legatum Homeopathicum |