THE BORDER MAIL (Wodonga, Australia) 21 July 05 No prize for this deadly cure (Nick Higgins)
One poison could be the antidote to another, a Yackandandah doctor thought in the 1880s.
In 1888 Dr A. Mueller wrote an enthusiastic letter to the Central Board of Health describing the success he had enjoyed using strychnine as an antidote to spider and snake bites.
“The last one was that of a girl of 20, bitten above the ankle whilst walking through long grass. The symptoms drowsiness, cold skin, quick, weak pulse were well pronounced in her, but after two injections of 1.6 of a grain each (of strychnine) they vanished completely, and did not return,” he wrote.
He also advised that although it was not his motivation, he “was not above” claiming the Victorian Government award for anyone discovering a reliable antidote to snake bite.
The reply from then government medical officer, a Dr A. Shields, had a cautioning tone and came with a recommendation that Dr Mueller test his antidote on “lower animals” such as rabbits and dogs.
The Wodonga and District Historical Society was recently given a small vial of Dr Muellers antidote, complete with syringe and instructions for its use in a small box.
Society member Jim Parker said the antidote was given to the group by Wilma Drummond, of Wodonga, who inherited it from her grandfather, William Paul Broome, of Talgarno.
The society is keen to hear from anyone who had items of interest from the early days of Wodonga.
No prize for this deadly cure