SCUTELLARIA 303 



deaths from this cause, and knew of frequent rabies in 

 our neighborhood. The disease is one demanding im- 

 mediate medication. No risk of time, remedy or phy- 

 sicians will be taken by any one, and it is likely that 

 each person bitten by a questionable dog, and knowing 

 Dr. Van Derveer's reputation for treating the disease, 

 would make every effort to secure his personal services. 

 The rule of seeking a therapeutic expert holds good to- 

 day. In recent years (1908) , two persons bitten by a mad 

 dog in Florence, Kentucky, went at once to Chicago to 

 receive authoritative "serum" treatment, both of whom, 

 however, died of hydrophobia, as recorded by Dr. W. M. 

 Corey, of that town, who accompanied these patients 

 to Chicago, where they received the Pasteur treatment, 

 with which the profession is familiar. Let us now revert 

 to the literature connecting scutellaria with the dreaded 

 disease, hydrophobia. 



SCUTELLARIA IN HYDROPHOBIA. In 1812, Dr. James 

 Thacher (631), who served as surgeon through the Rev- 

 olutionary War, locating then in Plymouth, Massachu- 

 setts, issued a book of 301 pages titled: 



"Observations on Hydrophobia, produced by the bite 

 of a mad dog or other rabid animal, with an examination 

 of the various theories and methods of cure existing at 

 the present day, and an inquiry into the merit of Spe- 

 cific Remedies. Also a Method of Treatment best 

 adapted to the Brute Creation." 



In this book, whose frontispiece carried the illustra- 

 tion of Scutellaria lateriflora, Dr. Thacher considers in 

 detail the history and pathology of hydrophobia, as well 

 as the various theories that have prevailed concerning 

 its origin and distribution, together with discussions 

 from such eminent authorities as Boerhaave, Hunter, 



