"SamuelHopkinsAdams-ThePoisonBugaboo" - читать интересную книгу автора (Adams Samuel Hopkins)

GILA MONSTER NOT SO MONSTROUS
Dissension and discussion have raged for years about the hideous head of the
Gila monster. This great lizard of the Southwest has been pronounced absolutely
deadly by one set of partisans, and absolutely harmless by another. Somewhere
between lies the truth. If any human being has actually been bitten by a
heloderma, the event has either escaped notice or has been so hedged about with
obstructive legend as to have forfeited scientific credence. But the saurian
itself has been studied and dissected, and its venom has been analyzed. The
venom is related to snake poison, but is neither crotaline nor elapine. From
animal experiments it is thought that it might be fatal to man under unfavorable
conditions. There are no fangs proper. The poison gland is in the lower jaw,
instead of in the upper, as in snakes, and its product is projected through
small ducts which open in the gums outside the teeth. The Gila monster has the
grip of a bulldog. Torture will not loosen its hold, once fastened on. It is
through this intimate contact that the venom works into the wounds.
Fortunately, the lizard is slow to anger, and prefers flight to battle, so it is
likely to be long before science has an opportunity of studying the effect of
its envenomed jaw-clamp upon man. There are a few vaguely rumored reports of
prospectors having perished, in the desert, of Gila monster poison, but these
are so confused with symptoms suspiciously resembling alcoholic poisoning as to
lead Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, an authority upon the Reptilia, to remark that "a quart
of raw whisky, practically given at one dose, may prove more fatal than the bite
of ten helodermas."
Almost any kind of an insect bite or sting may prove fatal. So may a pin
scratch, if the blood of the subject be in bad enough condition. There is a
well-substantiated case of a trained nurse who died from blood poisoning
following a mosquito bite. Ant bite has resulted fatally, as has a single sting
from the common wasp. No one, however, considers these everyday insects as
"deadly." But substitute "scorpion" for "ant," and "centipede" for "wasp," and
shrieks of dismay rise from the general throat. Yet perhaps there is no other
variety of harmful creature whose reputation rests upon so meager a foundation
as that of these two.
True, an El Paso report claims that a man stung by a whip scorpion died in
twelve hours; but the details are so vague as to be in a high degree
unconvincing. Dr. Eugene Murray-Aaron, a witness of unimpeachable scientific
competency, describes the sting, after several personal encounters with the
vigorous tropical species, as no worse than that of a large hornet. Dr. L. B.
Rowland, of Florida, says: "My wife has been stung several times [by the common
scorpion]. It is like a wasp sting, only."
THE SCORPION'S STING
The Mexican scorpion enjoys an evil repute, which, from personal observation, I
consider greatly exaggerated. Stewart Edward White was so obliging as to afford
me excellent opportunity of judging, in the course of a recent hunting trip
which we took together in a hot and remote Mexican desert. Mr. White, in the
process of disrobing, sat down upon a brown scorpion, an inch and a half long.
The scorpion punctured Mr. White twice. I noted his symptoms. They were chiefly
surprise and indignation. Within half an hour he was asleep, and on the
following day he was riding a mule. The scorpion, however, died.
With respect to the centipede, satisfactory data are difficult to obtain. Some
scientists whose observations are worthy of note state that the legs of this