WOUNDS AND STINGS, VENOMOUS. ' Insect-bites and stings.
These may be divided into three gen eral classes. In the first may be included the minute bites and stings of the smaller insects,—the flea, the mosquito, the bed bug, etc.,—in which the lesions are purely local and of slight importance; in the second may be placed the stings of bees, hornets, wasps, etc., in which there is con siderable local pain and sometimes con stitutional manifestations; while in the third may be included the stings or bites of scorpions, centipedes, venomous spi ders (the tarantula, for instance), etc., in which severe local and general disturb ances may ensue. The more important of these are separately considered below.
Treatment of Bites and Stings in Gen eral.—While special measures are indi cated in some instances, a general founda tion for the remedies to be used lies in the fact that the poison introduced into a wound by any insect is strongly acid in nature, and that the local effect is pri marily one tending to producing coagula tion and agglutination of the corpuscular elements of the blood. Hence the well known value of ammonia in such cases whether applied in weak solution over the skin, or in strong solution or pure into a wound. Permanganate of potassium in 1- to 5-per-cent. solution is also effect ive for the same reason. The properties of common salt in saturated solution are well known to every housewife. Com mon clay or clean mud applied over a wound are favorites among wayfarers.
According to Ottinger (Sem. Med., p. 250,'9G), the best treatment for the bites of venomous insects, of whatever family, consists in covering the part pricked with a thick coating of a mixture of equal parts of ichthyol and lanolin, or, even better, pure ichthyol. in case the insect bite has already determined the tumefac tion of the member, the latter is painted over its entire length with pure ichthyol and covered with a sheet of gutta-percha, on which ice is then applied.
For travelers, soldiers, etc., carbolic
acid is an excellent preventive agent, not only against the mosquito, but also one tending to keep off the numerous other pests—ticks, fleas, lice, horse-flies, etc.— with which practically all countries are infested. The use of a strong carbolic acid soap for washing purposes suffices when insects are not numerous; in malarial regions, however, especially when mosquitoes are numerous, the pro tection must be increased in proportion. This can be easily done by dipping the hands, after the ablutions are over, into a bucketful of water containing an ounce of carbolic acid, and passing them, while wet, over the face, neck, and ears,—any portion of the body that may be exposed. If the parts thus moistened are not wiped the water will evaporate, leaving a thin film of carbolic acid over the skin, which thoroughly protects it until completely washed off by the perspiration. If re sorted to before retiring, the protection usually lasts during the sleeping-hours. When carbolic acid is not available an emulsion of common kerosene or petro leum is an excellent substitute.
A handful of laurel-leaves boiled in a pint of lard makes an ointment which, applied over the hands and face in insect-infected districts, affords efficient protection.
Mosquito. — The blood-sucking mos quito (Culex anxifer) is to be found al most everywhere, but exhibits the ex tremes of virulence on the shores of the Arctic Ocean and in the tropics. The female is the offender, and, after sucking a portion of her victim's blood, replaces it with the poison that leads to the familiar itching, swelling, and, some times, to more violent inflammation.
Besides the power of transferring the germ thought to be capable of giving rise to the Plasmodium, malaria?, the mos quito is also a medium for transference to human beings of the Pilaria san gitinis. Yellow fever has also been in cluded by some observers in the list of affections which the mosquito may con vey by its bite.