254 Oh the Cure of the Hydrophohla. 



" If mufic has charms to haraionife the nerves, and foothe 

 the feelings of a melancholy or outrageous maniac, as men- 

 tioned on the higheft authority, can any caufe be affigned 

 whv, in a mufical age like the prefent, its powerful influence 

 fhould not be tried againft this dreadful malady ? Though its 

 eft'e6ls on the difeafe occafioned by the tarantula may have 

 been greatly exangerated, yet, if what has been confidently 

 aflerted of its efficacy againft the envenomed bite of the moft 

 dangerous ferpent?, be true, the analogy would afford, at Icaft, 

 a prefumptive argument in its favour. But, independent of 

 this, other beneficial eflcfts, in removing the wild ravings in 

 certain fevers, might here be produced *". And it was confi- 

 ilered bv Cliuias, Afclcpiades, and Aretasus, as an eflential 

 remedy in phrenty, melancholy, and mental derangement. 



*' In the Memoirs of the Medical Society of Paris, Vol. VI. 

 is an affecling inftance of a youth of 12 years old, who died 

 of the hvdrophobia. The diftrefling fcene, near the clofe of 

 the difeafe, induced the phyfician to try the effeils of mufic, 

 by plaving before him on the guitar. The harmony, even at 

 this late period, we are told, appeafed the fpafms, and ren- 

 dered the pulfe more calm and regular. 



" 3dly, To fupport ftrength, and reftore the encrg\' of the 

 brain. , 



*' To enable the patient to bear up under the unequal 

 conflict, his diet fliould confift of the mofl nutritious ali- 

 ments, chiefly of the folid kind, to which may be added frefli 

 eo-crs, jellies, and bread foaked in generous wine. If, from his 

 dread of liquids, neither food nor medicine of the fluid kind 

 can be got down, they muft be conveyed in the form of me- 

 dicated baths and enemas ; of which the body, being in a 

 parched abforbent ftatc, will imbibe more than is generally 

 imao-ined. Might not liquids be alfo fafely conveyed into 

 the ftoinaeh with a flexible tube, as in cafes of lufpendcd 

 animation ? 



'* To refl:ore oxygen to the blood, and invigorate the whole 

 fvftem, vital air, properly modified, may be inhaled into the 

 lungs. Where this cannot be had, as nitrous acid contains it 

 * See Medical Journalf Vols. I. 11. and XT. 



in 



