Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 90.djvu/591

 Popular Science Monthly

��575

���With a quick move- ment place the cane across the neck of the snake just behind the head, then grasp him in the spot where the cane rests

��are captured in order to secure their venom for the prepara- tion of a n t i - venom snake

irum. Thisse-

im, if injected

ito a person who las been bitten by

snake, will save lis life. The neces- sity of the prepara- tion seems remote to us who Hve where ven- omous snakes are comparatively rare. But in some parts of the world snakes do much to keep the death rate high. In the Indian Peninsula, for example, the Cobra, ihe Krait and a few other venomous snakes cause the death of 25,000 persons ever\- year. Fatalities from snake bites are numerous in Burma, Indo-China, Australia, the Dutch Indies, Africa, the West Indies and Tropical America.

Treatment for snake-bite consists in immediately making a tourniquet some distance above the wound to prevent the blood from carrying the venom through the system, then making deep incisions in the wound with a razor or a sharp knife to permit it to bleed freely. Permanganate of potash should be sprinkled into the wound and then anti-venom snake serum should be administered. If these pre- cautions are taken quickly the danger of

��The ustial number of fangs is two, but some- times a third one grows in before it is due

��When held in this way the snake is perfectly harmless. Care should always be taken not to give it a chance to coil around anything

��the bite prov- ing fatal is greatly les- sened.

Ordinarily, however, even the most ven- omous of snakes will not harm a person unless it happens to be struck, stepped on or other- wise annoyed or alarmed. In this coun- try- snake-bite fatalities are rare.

��Potash from Seaweed — An Industry in the Making

AX. ambitious project to obtain potash . from seaweed in the Sargasso Sea, in the North Atlantic Ocean, is planned by W. S. Warner, of Tampa, Florida. He intends to build a special vessel of rein- forced concrete and equip it with machinery for hoisting the seaweed from the ocean and reducing it to ashes. After running the seaweed through three successive sets of heavy rolls to remove the water, it will be passed through rotary drying kilns, burned, and the ashes, in which the potash content is concentrated, stored in the hold of the vessel. Mr. Warner plans to install an equipment capable of producing two hun- dred tons of ashes per day. The Sargasso Sea is literally covered with seaweed.

�� �