Have you ever thought about what happens to the body if it's bitten by a venomous snake? A man tried to answer that by documenting his last few hours.
A video uploaded by Science Friday on October 27 chronicled the end of Dr. Karl P. Schmidt, which he himself detailed in what is now called his "death diary." Born in Illinois, he was a celebrated expert in herpetology (study of amphibians and reptiles). He led and participated in several expeditions, some of which were meant for species collections for a variety of museums.
On Sept 25, 1957, a 30-inch boomslang snake, which was commonly found in Africa, was brought to Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History from Lincoln Park Zoo for identification. As a snake expert, he had named over 150 different species. However, this particular snake was "difficult to name" since it had an unusual characteristic. It was when in the middle of discussing his findings that the snake bit him in his left hand, near his thumb. Blood started to flow, and he sucked.
By 4:30pm, he was already feeling the symptoms including a strong nausea and vomiting while he was driving home. About an hour after, he started having chills and shaking. He was also having a slight fever and bleeding in the mouth.
By 8:30pm, he ate two milk toasts. Around 9:20pm to midnight, he reported to having "slept well." However, when he urinated a few minutes after midnight, he noticed trickles of blood in his urine. After he drank some water, he started becoming nauseated and vomiting his undigested supper. But he was able to sleep again until he woke up by 6:30am.
He ate a heavy breakfast the following day, Sept 26, but he started bleeding. Then the diary abruptly ended.
The video then followed up with notes from his physician, including how he became less responsive after lunch. They tried to resuscitate him in the hospital but died due to "respiration paralysis." It also mentioned how he was offered medical care but rejected it as he didn't want to get in the way with the symptoms.
It's been speculated that he underestimated the power of the snake's venom, which has the ability to prevent the blood from clotting, causing the victim to die from excessive bleeding. Others believed he had simply surrendered to his fate as the anti-venom back then was available only in Africa.
