How would you treat a scorpion bite in pioneer times?

Answer 1

Scorpions don't bite they sting with their tails. A pioneer would not have found a scorpion since they are not found on the plains. HAD they gotten stung they would have wrapped the spot and used iodine on it.

Answer 2

For the longest time people treated snake bites the wrong way. Pioneers used to do the old put on a tourniquite, make a cut and suck out the venom. Even up to 10 - 20 years ago. The proper way to treat a snake bite is to keep the person calm, keep the bite area lower than the torso if possible and put ice on the wound. Seek medical attention immediately. NEVER I repeat NEVER apply a tourniquite. Tourniquites have caused more arms and legs to have to be amputated needlessly than you could imagine. NEVER make an incision on the bite holes like you see in the movies. This just gives the person a nasty cut and you will do more harm than good. NEVER try and suck out the venom like you see in the movies. Do you want snake venom in your mouth? Anyway within seconds of the bite, the venom is away from the wound. The amount of people that die each year from snake bites in the U.S. is very low. Mostly it is the very young or the elderly. The main thing is to get to a hospital and it is very important to identify the snake so they know what anti-venom to give you.
You would strip the flesh from the rattlesnake and apply some to the bite until it is green from poison. Then you keep adding more until the flesh is all gone. Or you could rub gunpowder onto the bite. Another way was to apply Kansas Snake root, which is scientifically proven to cure rattle snake bites by John Clayton. For normal snakes, you could apply whiskey and horse dung as a poultice to draw out poison. For a dog that was bitten, you would grind up Alum, put it on meat, and force the dog to swallow it. I hope this helps you.^_~ good luck with that!