103 NOSTRUMS RECOMME>fDEDi BATHING. 



ent rabies presses itself u[K)n our notice as the most efficacious measure fot 

 warding off the disease. Six months is no unusual time for dogs to conceal 

 rabid infection, a quarrelsome disposition being for a long time tne only indi- 

 cation perceptible; but the horse seldom goes beyond the twentieth day in de- 

 veloping all the symptoms before enumerated ; which shows that the peculiar- 

 ly rapid circulation of the blood, noticed elsewhere (page 59) as the harbinger 

 of inflammatory complaints of every kind in the horse, naturally demands 

 early and copious bleeding as a good accessary remedy for this particular one. 

 In this case alone we should not be solely guided as to the quantity of blood 

 proper to be taken by the qui(;kness of the pulse, or actual inflammatory indi- 

 cation, but its fulness, and habit of the patient's body : empty his body sub- 

 Bequently, as directed in cases of fever, with a brisk purgative, as follovvs: 



Purgative Ball. 



Aloes, 7 drachms, 

 Calomel, half a drachm, 

 Hard Soap, 3 drachms. 

 Oil of caraways, 12 drops. 



Mix with mucilage sufficient for one dose. If the animal seem not otherwise 

 to require purging physic, omit the calomel, and omit it also if the bleeding 

 has been trivial on accouut of the previous low state of the animal's system. 



The application of the plant Scutelleria laterifolia is lately reported from 

 North America to have succeeded in several cases; but the symptoms do not 

 accompany the report made to us, and we rest in doubt as to its efficacy. 

 However, let it be tried. So we say of "any mineral acid," which a certain 

 medical gentleman recommends may be applied — a few drops on tow to the 

 wound whilst fresh. This may be tried in the form of oxygenated muriatic 

 acid, which has the property of being destructively detersive; it decomposes 

 the virus, and acts as a styptic. Salt water bathing has been employed upon 

 a large scale, and has been loudly commended; then, let common salt be also 

 tried to the amount of two or three ounces a day mixed with the patient's corn. 

 It is but fair to add, that sea-bathing failed of effecting any good, when tried 

 upon the canine under the best auspices. The king's stag-hounds, in 1823, 

 being more than suspected of rabies, were taken to Brighton, and the ablution 

 well performed under the directions of Mr. Sharpe, the huntsman, but to no 

 good eflfect ; they were all destroyed. Dr. Fayerman, of Norwich, published 

 a case in the spring of 1825, of the cure of hydrophobia in a man of forty-two 

 years, by giving him superacetate of lead (Goulard's extract) in doses of from 

 fifty to ten drops on lumps of sugar. He also bled the patient, who was at 

 one time raging mad. Strong soap boilers' lye, or solution of potash, in either 

 of its varieties, has been used frequently as efficaciously detersive of the virus 

 left by the bite or bites inflicted by a ralnd enemy ; besides which, the seat of 

 all the wounds may thus be discovered, as they usually lie concealed by the 

 hair; and thus, if excision be deemed necessary, every injured part may be 

 similarly treated : let the eyes l»e guarded against the lye, and the wounds 

 should be quickly pressed and assiduously washed. An eschar forms and 

 completes the cure. The once celebrated " Ormskirk Medicine " is unworthv 

 of reliance. 



The subject of canine madness has been well handled by Mr. Gilman, in 

 his "Dissertation on the Bite of Rabid Animals," 8vo. Mr. Daniel, in his 

 •* Rural Sports," has made some good, sensible, practical observations on this 

 subject. Mr. Thomas, in his "Shooter's Guide," is more pithy than commu- 

 viraiwe ; be recommends immediate death being visited upon the victims of 



