Agkistrodon Contortrix

Copperhead snake.

Authorities.

1 , Mr. Arnold, Med. Times and Gaz., 1873 (2), p. 461, symptoms produced on John Brown by the bite; 2 , Mr. A'Beckett's account of the same case, ibid; 3 , Mr. Woolridge's account, ibid.; 4 , E. M. Schaeffer, M.D., Field and Forest, vol. i, p. 12, a man, æt. twenty-one years, was bitten on the right hand.

• Symptoms of coma (after two hours), 1.
• Semiconscious state (after some hours), 2.
• Cornea insensible to touch (after six hours), 3.
• Pupils sluggish and dilated (after some hours), 2.
• Pupils possessed only of the minutest power of contraction and considerably dilated (after six hours), 3.
• Indistinct vision (after two hours), 1.
• Wild appearance of countenance, 1.
• Countenance rather approaching a livid hue, features swollen (after six hours), 1.
• Considerable swelling about the upper lip (after two hours), 1. [10.]
• Vomiting (after two hours), 1.
• Breathing rather slow (after six hours), 1.
• Weak pulse (after two hours, 1.
• Pulse slow and very weak (after some hours), 2.
• Pulse of large volume, weak, and about 70 (after six hours), 3.
• Limbs paralyzed (after six hours), 3.
• Pain in the finger, 1.
• Paralysis of lower extremities (after two hours), 1.
• Stiffness of the legs, 1.
• Complete prostration (after two hours), 1. [20.]
• Drowsiness (after two hours), 1.
• Cold perspiration (after two hours), 1.
• Surface of body cold and clammy (after some hours), 2.
• The wound at once gave him some pain, like the sting of a wasp, as he described it, and in a few minutes he began to vomit. This continued until his stomach was emptied, when he still experienced violent retching. He then became deadly faint, and lay down. Dr Klein-schmidt described his appearance four hours later as that of a person in the last stage of collapse; skin cold, pulse nearly gone, respiration feeble, and pupils widely dilated, with great dimness of vision. The right hand and arm were fearfully swollen, of a grayish-black color, resembling gangrene. He passed a feverish night, but was much better Sunday. On Monday evening I found him nearly free from pain, though the arm was still swollen to nearly the size of a man's thigh. From this time he progressed rapidly towards recovery, and in less than a week was out, with his arm in a sling, 4.