242 SNAKE BITES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22955, 5 February 1938, Page 12

242 SNAKE BITES

A WILLING VICTIM DEMONSTRATION OF THEORY OWN ANTIDOTES APPLIED DISAGREEMENT WITH DOCTOR [from OCR OWN correspondent] MELBOURNE, Jan. 27 To demonstrate what he considered to be the most effective method of treating snake bites, Mr. Stanley Morrissey, of Nofth Melbourne, allowed a fully-venomed tiger snake to bite him twice the other day. He gave the demonstration to emphasise his disagreement with the evidence that was given by a doctor at an inquest at Albury into the death of a five-year-old boy wlao had been bitten by a snake. The evidence was given by Dr. J. Noel Brown, who contended that the ordinary type of ligature was futile in the case of a tiger snake bite, and that ordinary scarification was unsatisfactory. The only effective method was to cut out the piece of flesh where the snake had struck. Dr. Brown said that, on being informed by telephone that the boy had been bitten on the hand, he told the parents to bring him to hospital. The doctor met the parents and boy about five miles, from Albury and found that string ligatures had been applied, but they were not particularly effective. Everything Possible Done Witness applied a special rubber ligature and took the boy to hospital, where he was given immediate treatment, which included extensive scarification and large injections of specially prepared anti-venine. The boy's condition remained satisfactory throughout the night, but at 7.30 a.m. next day lie showed signs of collapse. He was given further injections, but died four hours later. Dr. Brown added that he believed the tiger snake was the second most venomous snake in the world. The coroner found that the child died from the effects of snake bite and that every possible measure had been taken to save his life. In making his demonstration to combat Dr. Brown's assertions, Mr. Morrissey was undergoing no new experience, for the two new bites were the 138 th and 139 th he had had from tiger snakes, and the 241st and 242ud he had had from snakes of all types. Attack Invited

After teasinc the snake Mr. Morrissey deftly picked it up behind the head and struck its nose until it bit his little finger. Then, to make sure that a clear photograph was obtained, he allowed it to bite him again.

Unaided, Mr. Morrissey applied a ligature maide of a bicycle inner tube. He cut a half-inch incision with a scalpel .on each side of the punctures and rubbed into th© cuts permanganate of potassium. He then massaged his arm downward. He walked away, feeling slightly ill, with a throbbing headache, and drove to the Royal Melbourne Hospital, where he was examined.

At his own home he applied his snake bite cure. Half an hour after applying the first ligature he placed a second one about two inches above the first, which he released. He then shook his arm violently to stimulate the blood in the constricted part of the arm. Most of the ill-effects of th© bites disappeared, except for a muchswollen hand and forearm. String Ligatures Ineffective Mr. Morrissey said that string ligatures were ineffective, but, in the case of a bitten hand, a rubber band, applied above the elbow, was valuable. Thus he agreed with Dr. Brown on that point, but he explained that he gave the demonstration to combat Dr. Brown's other point, that the most successful method of treating a tiger snake bite was a drastic incision at the puncture. , The Director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Dr. C. H. Kellaway, said that a ligature was of value only in retarding the entry of venom into the svstem. If the bite were on a part , where application of a ligature was impossible, a small area of flesh surrounding the fang punctures should bo cut out without delay.