{ 194 ] 
Others, lefs tender towards the patient’s feelings, 
propofe to cleanfe and enlarge the wound by the ex- 
plofive force of gunpowder. 
The ancients, on thefe occafions, univerfally em- 
ployed the aétual cautery, by which they prefently 
deftroyed the infected part, reducing it toafhes. A 
mode of prevention fuperior to all the pretended 
improvements introduced by modern refinement. 
Through prejudice and difufe, the imagination is 
apt to revolt at the idea of the red-hot iron, and 
hence few perfons, at this period, will fubmit to un- 
dergo the fiery ordeal. Mr. Le Roux, for this 
reafon, prefers the liquid butter of antimony, which, 
he fays, has fucceeded in a variety of cafes. But it 
matters little, whether the part affected be removed 
by the actual or potential cautery, provided it be 
done effeétually; for the pain in either cafe, though 
fharp, can only be momentary. 
Mercury.—M. Desauxt, conceiving the conta- 
gion to originate from animalculz, exifting in the fa- 
liva of rabid animals, pronounced mercury the grand 
vermifuge, and only efficacious antidote, on which 
he could depend. Neither he nor his followers 
pretend, indeed, ever to have feen the fuppofed in- 
fects, though they might eafily have been detected, if 
prefent in the faliva, by means of a good microfcope. 
Ir were: to be wifhed, therefore, that the theory 
fhould ftill be brought to the teft of this fimple 
experiment. Dr. James caught the idea, and pur- 
fued 
