.?50 APPENDIX. 1). 



tal virus liangino;- about, it may increase the su!ety nf tlie opera- 

 tion if the wounds were bathed with an arsenical solution, made 

 by pouring four ounces of water on two drachms of arsenic. 



" Therefore, after these precautions have been attended to, 

 proceed to the actual removal of the bitten part by whatever 

 mode may appear most e'igible to the operator. The means of 

 destroying the bitten surfaces by incision and cautery, actual or 

 potential, as it is termed, are as follow. A sportsman who 

 might choose to act for liimself, would find a ready one, when 

 the wound was a simple puncture or punctures made into the 

 I'.jjic !)t a horse or dog, to thrust in a blunt-pointed iron, heated 

 tf) a red heat ; after which the part might be further treated 

 with any escharotic he may have at hand, as muriate of anti- 

 mony, (butter of antimony,) sulphate of copper, (hlue vitriol,) 

 $cr., &('. The regular practitioner would, in the case of simple 

 punctures, adapt a poition of nitrate of silver, (lunar caustic,) 

 to the shape and size of the wound ; this he would insinuate by 

 degrees into it, making it embrace the sides fully, and extend it 

 completely to the bottom, where it should be worked around 

 sufficiently long to insure a complete destruction of the inocu- 

 lated surface. A lacerated wound I would recommend to have 

 its ragged edges removed, and its sinuosities enlarged, that the 

 caustic may reach every part of the wounded surface, which it 

 is evident must be most particularly attended to. As the slough 

 hardens during the process, remove it by means of a probe, and 

 then retouch all the parts every or every other day. When the 

 punctures were deep in operating on a human subject, I always 

 repeated full cauterization at the end of every second or third 

 day for at least twice. By applying the caustic gradually at 

 first, the pain it gives is by no means intense, and it even les- 

 sens the further it is proceeded in. If much heat and pain fol- 

 low, envelope the whole part in a poultice. There is every 

 reason to suppose that keeping up a continued discharge in the 

 part, after the entire destruction of wounded surfaces, is unne- 

 cessary ; I never practised it myself, and I have had no reason 

 to regret the omission. 



" Having thus reached the close of the practical detail I shall 



