SPASMODIC AFFECTIONS. 507 



sent age, some new remedies have been proposed, and have ex- 

 perience alleged to vouch for their efficacy ; but many doubts 

 still remain with respect to this ; and though I cannot deter- 

 mine in this matter from my own experience, I think it incum- 

 bent on me to give the best judgment I can form with respect 

 to the choice of the remedies at present recommended. 



MDXXVI. I am, in the first place, firmly persuaded, that 

 the most certain means of preventing the consequences of the 

 bite, is to cut out, or otherwise destroy, the part in which the 

 bite has been made. In this every body agrees ; but with this 

 difference, that some are of opinion that it can only be effectual 

 when it is done very soon after the wound has been made, and 

 therefore neglect it when this opportunity is missed. There 

 have been, however, no experiments made proper to determine 

 this matter ; and there are many considerations which lead me 

 to think that the poison is not immediately communicated to 

 the system ; and, therefore, that this measure of destroying the 

 part may be practised with advantage, even many days after the 

 bite has been given. 



MDXXVII. Whilst the state of our experience, with re- 

 spect to several remedies now in use, is uncertain, I cannot ven- 

 ture to assert that any of these is absolutely ineffectual ; but I 

 can give it as my opinion, that the efficacy of mercury, given 

 very largely, and persisted in for a long time, both as a means 

 of preventing the disease, and of curing it when it has actually 

 come on, is better supported by experience than that of any 

 other remedy now proposed or commonly employed. 



