Myeloid tumour with complete absorption of the shaft of the humerus, following double fracture--excision--death / by Shirley Deakin.

  • Deakin, Shirley.
Date:
[1884]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Myeloid tumour with complete absorption of the shaft of the humerus, following double fracture--excision--death / by Shirley Deakin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    435 1884.] Yarrow, Poisoning from the Bite of a Copperhead. To most intelligent observers of such an accident, the indication would doubtless be to prevent the entrance of the poison into the general circu¬ lation by means of a ligature or bandage, which should not be narrow, but quite broad and applied above the bite, or between it and the heart, it being of course understood that these remarks, as far as ligatures are concerned, apply to wounds of limbs. The bite should then be laid open by a crucial incision, care being taken not to injure bloodvessels; and suction should be made either by the mouth (in case no abrasions exist) or by cupping ; this latter procedure may be made by means of ordinary surgical cups if available, by a small tumbler or wineglass from which the air has been exhausted by burning a small quantity of alcohol or spirits therein, or by means of an ordinary wide-mouthed bottle or can in which boiling hot water should be poured and quickly emptied. Alco¬ holic stimulants should be given in order to keep up the flagging heart, • and the band should be loosened for a few moments at a time, in order that only a small amount of the venom, shall enter the circulation. This process should be repeated, and the pulse will indicate when the proper amount of stimulants has been reached. It is not necessary to produce drunkenness, as it is believed that in some cases, especially of children, death has resulted, not from the snake venom, but from lethal doses of alcohol. In view of the recent researches of Lacerda, mentioned in the able paper by my friend Dr. Fletcher, from which I have so liberally quoted, the solution of potassa permanganas should be employed as an injection in the immediate vicinity of the bite. The strength should be a one per cent, solution, of the salt in water, and, as the remedy is a chemical and not a physiological antidote, it is necessary that contact with the venom should quickly take place. In a number of experiments made by Dr. Lacerda, even when serpent venom was injected into veins fol¬ lowed by the permanganate, the salt was an effective antidote. As to the many reputed antidotes, Weir Mitchell has clearly proved that little or no reliance can be placed on them, and although it is not decided whether the formerly much-vaunted Bibron’s antidote may not have some power to check, for a time, the dangerous symptoms, he thinks further experience will be necessary to decide upon its merits. Of course, after the acute symptoms of snake-bite have subsided, others would have to be treated according to the general indications. To those interested in the subject of antidotes and remedies for serpent-bites I would suggest an examina¬ tion of the very valuable and exhaustive paper by Dr. Mitchell in the North American Medico-Chirurgical Review, 1861, v. 262. Some apology is perhaps necessary for the length of this paper, but it is hoped that the importance of the subject may be a sufficient excuse, and that physicians throughout the country may be induced to record not only their successful cases, but those in which medical skill has proved .un¬ availing.