Page:AJWall Indian Snake Poisons.djvu/36

21 and, on the other hand, fanged harmless snakes, like Lycodon and Dipsas, may leave punctures in the skin that might easily be mistaken for the wounds caused by the fangs of venomous snakes. And more misguiding, if possible, than any of these, is the victim's description of the snake. From these various causes it often happens that a man is left without an attempt at treatment because the bite is not visible or does not look like that inflicted by a venomous snake, or because there are no symptoms. Now we know that symptoms may not occur till more than an hour has passed, when all chance of preventing the absorption of the poison has gone. On the other hand severe measures have been resorted to, even ending fatally, when it has been proved afterwards that the subject had not been bitten by a poisonous snake at all. It is therefore of great importance to be enabled to say whether a man has really been poisoned as well as bitten by a snake. This can be done by simply observing the condition of the tissues into which the poison has been injected. No ordinary wounds, not even a poisoned wound such as is received in dissections, can cause the immediate inflammation that is peculiar to snake poison. In a simple or even ordinary poisoned wound a very considerable time would elapse before any marked change would be noticeable. In the vast majority of cases a simple incision through the skin into the subcutaneous areolar tissue will afford certain information whether the case is