*l^4 ^'^ ^'^'^ various Ucmcdies recommended 



well founded. If thefe obflacles^ then, were removed, and sf 

 the patients coidd fwallow the remedies prefcribed for them, 

 there is reafon to think that their lives might be faved. Stoll 

 entertained fome good ideas on this fubjeft ; but want of op- 

 portunity, and premature death, prevented him from ai)ply- 

 ing them to praftice. He was of opinion, that the excellive 

 irritability, occafioned by the hydrophobic virus, might be 

 overcome by opium ; and, as the patients cannot fwallow 

 any thing, he propofed adminiftering it in injections. The 

 difficulty here would be, to determine what quantity of opium 

 ought to be employed ; but, after proceeding far enough to 

 produce the intended effeft, the patient vt'ould then be able to 

 fwallow the tinfture of cantharides ; and, as there is no time 

 to lofe in fuch cafes, it would be neceflfary to raife the dofe 

 at firfl to four drops, and to follow up the cure with ai:\i\ ity. 



If StoU's idea be correct refpefting the aftion of the hy- 

 drophobic virus, the high Hate of irritability might, we think, 

 be fubdued fpeedily by making the patient inhale hydro-car- 

 bonat. The idea is certainly worthy of the attention of the 

 faculty; but this gas Ihould not be reforted to except with 

 the aid of a phyfician. With fuch aid, however, if a mere 

 reduftion of the irritability be all that is necelfary to enable 

 the patient to fwallow medicines, the end might certainly be 

 gained. 



C. Delametherie * informs us, that fcveral eminent phyfi- 

 icians, fuch as Tiflbt, Lalfore, Blais, Belletefte, &c. have 

 employed the volatile alkali with fuccefs in the hydrophobia. 

 In the Gazette de France of May 4, 1799, there is an ex- 

 traft of a letter from Carmont in Andalufia, dated March 27, 

 the fame year, which fays, that a fhepherd having been bit 

 by a mad dog, and fymptoms of the hydrophobia having 

 begun to appear, Don Candido Trigneros, a phyfician in 

 the neichbourhood, applied to the wound a little lint dipped 

 in volatile alkali, and with the approbation of Don Jofeph 

 Mexia, of the Medical and Patriotic Societies of Seville, or- 

 dered the patien. to fwallow, for four days, twelve drops of 

 volatile alkali in three ounces of water; which made the 

 fymptoms of madnefs difappear. 



* Journal de Phjfique, Ytntoft, an. 8. 



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