Snakes, Alcohol

Prohibitionists were delighted, anti's were disgusted, last week, to learn that a poisonous snake bite should not be followed by a powerful alcoholic drink. Dr. Afrania do Amaral, director of the snake serum institute at Butantan, Brazil, declared that far from being a remedy ". . . alcoholic liquors are harmful to persons bitten by venomous snakes." The alcohol acts first as a stimulant, speeding up the circulation, quickly distributing the poison through the body. When the effect wears off it becomes a depressant, lowering the victim's resistance, hindering him from using all his natural forces to fight the poison. Exactly the opposite results are imperative. The poison must be prevented from circulating: this is accomplished by a tourniquet above the bite, in first aid; the natural resistance must be fostered by rest and anti-ophidic serum.

Faith in alcohol is based on ignorance of snakes. Many snakes that bite are not poisonous, the majority of poisonous bites are not fatal. The victim drowns his despair in drink. When, on growing sober, he finds himself still alive the alcohol gets the credit.

Dr. do Amaral convinces the incredulous with his experiments. He has injected dogs with deadly cobra venom, then given alcohol to half the animals. The drunken dogs invariably died long before the others.

Such serious scientists as Raymond Lee Ditmars, famed curator of reptiles at the N. Y. Zoological Park, and Miss Nellie Louise Condon, president of the Reptile Study League agreed with Dr. do Amaral. Salty sportsmen and story-tellers (Don Marquis, Owen P. White, Tex Rickard, Texas Guinan, Tex O'Reilly, William O. McGeehan) thought the Butantan biologist bigoted; suspected him of prohibition interests.