Case of Bite of a Young Woman by a large Cobra de Capello. By
Wm. Chalmers, M. D., lately Surgeon H.E.LC. service, Bengal.—
On 25th of June, 1819, at 11 P. M., I heard from the outside of my
house, at Barrackpore, near Calcutta, a loud call for my immediate at-
tendance. It proved to be from Colonel, afterwards General Sir Wm.
Lumley, whom I found with a lanthorn in his hand, entreating me for
God’s sake to come with him at once, as his mebturanee (female sweeper)
had been bitten by a cobra de capello. I took in my hand a phial of
solution of ammonia, of the usual strength, a case of scalpels, and a
large sized elastic gum male catheter. On arriving at the hut occupied
by the poor woman and her husband, I found her stretched outside on
the ground, her head resting on her husband’s knee. Her body was
cold and collapsed; there was neither breathing nor pulse; her eyes
were wide open, and insensible to light; the mouth was also wide open ;
tongue cold; in fact life was, to all appearance, extinct. How long she
had lain in this position could not be ascertained; her husband con-
jectured an hour at least. On the back of the right hand were dis-
covered two punctures, as if made by a needle, about an inch and a-half
apart, marking the entrance of the poisonous fangs of the snake. Upon
each puncture there was a drop of nearly colorless fluid, without any
haemorrhage, tumefaction, or ecchymosis.
Here was a case sufficiently discouraging, if not, to all human appear-
ance, hopeless. However I resolved not to abandon the poor sufferer,
while the kind-hearted master entreated me to do what I could.
Ordering bricks to be heated for application to the praecordia and the
feet, the first step of the treatment was to pour down hei’ throat a tea-
spoonful of the ammonia, with as much water, but all power of degluti-
tion being lost, some difficulty was experienced in accomplishing my
object. By the aid, however, of the catheter as an oesophagus tube I
succeeded admirably. The next step was to cut out and pare off the
integuments and subjacent cellular and muscular tissues, extending my
incision about one-fourth of an inch beyond the punctures. From the
large wound, which was of an oval shape, not a drop of blood escaped
in this operation. The husband was now directed to apply his mouth
to the wound, and suck with all his powers, which he proceeded to do
most readily, the natives having great faith in such a measure. This
he continued, with all the energy he was capable of, for fully half-an-
hour, without succeeding in procuring any moisture, while I repeated
the ammonia steadily every ten minutes, till a full ounce was consumed.
At length our perseverance was rewarded by some hopes of a restora-
tion, for the poor distracted husband leaped up in extasy of joy, ex-
claiming in his own language, <( Kohoo ata sahib,” (blood is coming,
Sir), showing his tongue covered with the vital fluid. In a few minutes
more the action of tbe heart was faintly perceptible; the pulse at the
wrist was just traceable in a thready thrill; she moved her head, gave
a deep sigh and sat up. Thus our persevering efforts for nearly two
hours, were rewarded by the rescue of a fine young healthy woman from
certain death;—in truth her recovery might be considered, without any
hyperbole, a resurrection from the dead. The only treatment pursued
afterwards was the free cauterization of the wound by Nitras Argenti,
—the application of a pledget of lint dipped in melted Ceratum, Resince,
covering the whole with a hot poultice. The wound healed kindly by
granulation, and she was able to resume her duties in a few days.
In this remarkable case the powers of the ammonia were proved most
incontestably as a safe and sure remedy, as it has ever since and during
my time in India—extending now to a quarter of a century—been
esteemed and experienced to be, in all bites of venomous reptiles.
Indeed, such is the confidence of the natives in the remedy, and more
especially the native soldiery, who in their huts are much exposed to
these injuries, that the moment any one gets bitten, he runs to the
nearest European officer, calling out for the Safed Ddwy, a the white
medicine,” assured that with a few doses of that, he is safe, and disap-
pointment in the curative effects is never experienced. By “ the white
medicine” is meant a preparation of ammonia, which used to be im-
ported in great quantities from England, and generally kept at hand by
every officer,—the old fashioned Eau de Luce, Liquor Ammonix Suc-
cinatus.
One cannot help regretting, that the medical officers of the hospital
into which that poor unfortunate fellow, who was bitten in the Zoological
Gardens last year, was admitted, were not apparently sufficiently ac-
quainted with the powers of ammonia in such cases. If they had Been,
it would no doubt have been had recourse to.— Glasgow Medical Journal,
April, 1853.