A peculiar complication is a distressing inflammation of the
mouth of individuals that have sucked the wounds containing
venom. This custom is still quite common, and is preferred by the
laity to the surer and much wiser method of immediate
cauterization by fire. There is a curious case reported of a
young man who was bitten on the ankle by a viper; he had not
sucked the wound, but he presented such an enormous swelling of
the tongue as to be almost provocative of a fatal issue. In this
case the lingual swelling was a local effect of the general
constitutional disturbance.
Cases of Snake-bite.--The following case illustrative of the
tenacity of virulence of snake-venom was reported by Mr. Temple,
Chief Justice of Honduras, and quoted by a London authority.
While working at some wood-cutting a man was struck on a heavy
boot by a snake, which he killed with an axe. He imagined that he
had been efficiently protected by the boot, and he thought little
of the incident. Shortly afterward he began to feel ill, sank
into a stupor, and succumbed. His boots were sold after his
death, as they were quite well made and a luxury in that country.
In a few hours the purchaser of the boots was a corpse, and every
one attributed his death to apoplexy or some similar cause.
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