204 BACTERIA IN DAILY LIFE 



quarter of the globe except Great Britain, the 

 inhabitants of this "great conservative island- 

 Empire," as a renowned foreign scientist describes 

 it, still preferring a trip to Paris to countenancing 

 the establishment of an anti-rabic institute in their 

 own country. The Arab physicians in Tunis have 

 from time immemorial sought to specially identify 

 themselves with cures for this disease, which is so 

 prevalent as to be a veritable scourge to the 

 country. A much-vaunted remedy advocated by 

 the profession consists in pounding up the charred 

 head of a rabid dog with vinegar, and administer- 

 ing an emulsion of the same to the patient. The 

 dung of camels is also highly prized as a remedy, 

 as also the water of certain wells which the simple 

 faith of the natives has endowed with supernatural 

 curative properties. But the strangest prescription 

 of all consists in broth made from lambs a year 

 old, to which is added a peculiar kind of beetle, 

 but in such a small quantity that the latter in- 

 gredient only equals the weight of a grain of corn. 

 This concoction is given to the unfortunate patient 

 twenty- three days after he has been bitten. In 

 the urine, according to the Arabian doctors, seven 

 small worms should be found which represent the 

 embryos of dogs engendered by the virus in the 

 human body, and which when once got rid of the 

 patient recovers ! 



