This was an AWESOME episode Brian!

I was so intrigued I immediately went to google to try to find out more about Rene Stiles. I found very little about her, but it was still worth the effort. One of the things I found was a newspaper article talking about her treating a snake with the brand new wonder drug sulfanilimide in 1939. Here is a quote from the article, in which Mrs. Stiles gives a few tips on how to tell if a snake is sick:
Healthy snakes will stick out their tongues at you. No tongue sticking out - sick snake. Take a look at the gums. If white or pink, snake is in fine shape. If they're blue - sick snake. Also the weight. In Toby's case, she's lost 28 of her 50 pounds.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?ni...pg=6597,161628
How far we've come! And yet, at least she was right, which is pretty amazing considering that so much of what was known even about human illness was wrong back then.

I also found a brief blurb about a woman named Grace Olive Wiley, and it mentions that Rene Stiles "had much the same interests", referring to both women's interest in snakes. So I went ahead and searched on Grace Olive Wiley; there is quite a lot of information about her! Here is the first sentence of the Wikipedia article on Wiley:
Grace Olive Wiley (1883–July 20, 1948) was an American herpetologist best known for her work with venomous snakes.