★★★★★
Onions and garlic were important remedies for snake bites in the ancient and medieval times, they were also employed as repellents. Sometimes the onions were applied in poultices, sometimes they were eaten. The spread of their use to the US might well have been expected, and they were reported to have been tried as early as 1753 in Louisiana. They later became a regular folklore cure. Sometimes a fresh onion was cut and the juicy inside was held against the wound. It was the belief that when the onion turned green it was actively drawing the venom out and a fresh one should be applied. Onions were used by cowboys in early Pennsylvania, in New Mexico, by Pennsylvania Germans, by Midwestern pioneers and California miners in the gold rush days. From the book: Rattlesnakes, Their Habits, Life Histories and Influence on Mankind by Laurence Klauber, Page 204,1982.
Note: Onions applied topically for snakebites is taught by the US Special Forces Training members.
