234 OUR HUMBLE HELPERS 



would be pursued by justice and punished as a 

 murderer." 



" Formerly they smothered the patient between 

 two mattresses, now they let him die no great ad- 

 vance," observed Louis. 



"Pardon, my friend; it is no small advance to 

 have banished forever from the sick-bed the sense- 

 less brutalities of ignorance, pending the day, which 

 will come, I hope, when science shall gain the upper 

 hand of the terrible disease. 



"Hydrophobia, when it has once set in, cannot, 

 I say, so far as we know, be cured; but at least, by 

 means of certain precautions, we can anticipate it 

 and prevent the mad dog's bite from leading to fatal 

 results. The saliva of rabies acts in poisoning the 

 blood precisely as does the venom of dangerous ser- 

 pents. The precautions to be taken are then, in both 

 cases, about the same : the saliva must be prevented 

 from entering the veins ; it must be destroyed in the 

 wound. To this end it is customary to bind the 

 bitten part above the wound, so as to arrest the cir- 

 culation ; then the torn flesh is made to bleed and is 

 afterward washed in order to remove as much as 

 possible of the venomous humor ; finally, and as soon 

 as may be, the wound is cauterized with iron heated 

 white-hot. ' ' 



"Oh, what a frightful remedy!" cried Emile. 

 "Is there no other?" 



"It is the only one, and it must be applied with 

 the least delay possible, and boldly. Life is at stake. 

 These precautions taken, especially the cauteriza- 



