Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

436 CAMPING AND WOODCRAFTCause repeated vomiting by giving three or fourglasses of warm water, each containing salt or mustard.Then give stimulants to support the heartand nerve force. Put the victim to bed, with headlow, and apply dry heat. If a syringe can be procured,empty the lower bowel with an injection ofsoapsuds and water. After a thorough cleaning out,give an intestinal antiseptic.Poisoning from Mushrooms (or from unknownplants)—Treat as for ptomaine poisoning. Incase of mushroom poisoning, if the patient can swallow,get some charcoal from the camp-fire, powderand administer it. This may absorb much of the poison.Castor oil is the best purgative, to be followedby a soapsuds enema. Atropine by injection, if youhave it; otherwise, unless you can get a physicianwithin two or three hours, the chance of recovery isslight; but do your best.Snake Bite.—The only dangerous snakes in theUnited States are the rattlesnake, the copperhead,and the cottonmouth moccasin. The small coralsnake (harlequin, bead snake) of the Gulf states,and the Sonoran coral snake of New Mexico andArizona, are somewhat venomous, but their bite isnot fatal to a healthy adult. The Gila monster ofthe Southwest is a dangerous lizard—the only onethat is venomous—but can scarcely be provoked tobite.All other snakes and lizards of our country andCanada are harmless—their bite is no more to befeared than that of a mouse. The notion that thebite of our so-called ''puff-adder, " "spreading adder,"''blowing viper," must be dangerous, because thesnake puff's up its neck and hisses like a goose, or thatthe common watersnake is a moccasin and consequentlyvenomous, is all moonshine, like the storyof the hoop-snake and the snake with a poisonoussting in its tail.However, that other notion that a rattlesnake'sbite is not a serious matter is moonshine, too. Men