KABIES.] 



FOR MOUNTAIN, FIELD, AND FAKri. 



UADIES. 



tiiuicd to drink tlio decoction. Tho poor little 

 ;;irl, who had been treated nccordiiii^ to tho 

 .isual medical forimila, was attacked with 

 hvdrophobic symptoius on tho seventh day, 

 and died within eii;lit houra altiT tho accession 

 . f the first paroxysm. 31. Maraschotti saw, 

 three years afterwards, tho other fourteen 

 persons all living, and iu good health. 



In ISIS, five years aller tho above occur- 

 rences, !^^. !Maraschetti had another oppor- 

 tunity aflbrded him, in Podolia, of testing tho 

 value of this important remedy, in the treat- 

 ment of tweuty-six persons, all of whom had 

 been bitten by rabid dogs. Of these persons, 

 nine were men, f^leveu were women, and six 

 were children. He used tlic decoction of 

 broom, as before ; and a carel'nl examination of 

 their tongues gave the following results : — 

 Vive men, all the women, and three of the 

 children, exhibited the Jcnois — those most 

 severely bitten on the third day, others on the 

 Ifih, seventh, and ninth ; and one woman, 

 A ho had been bitten only superficially on the 

 leg, not until the twenty-first day. The re- 

 maining seven showed no Icnots, but all con- 

 tinued to drink tho decoction ; and in six 

 weeks all the patients hud recovered. 



From these cases, M. Maraschetti was led 

 to the opinion, that the rabid virus, after re- 

 maining a short time in the wound, becomes 

 absorbed, and, for a certain time, resides be- 

 ..eath the tongue, at the orifices of the sub- 

 ..laxillary glands, where it develops itself in 

 he small knots observed by him. The aver- 

 age time for the appearance of these knots 

 would appear to be from the third to the ninth 

 ■'ay after the bite — 'uat if not opened within 

 I wcnty-four hours after the first formation, the 

 virus is reabsorbed into the system, and the 

 patient is lost beyond all hope of cure. On 

 these accounts, Maraschetti recommended that 

 the patient should be at once examined be- 

 neath the tongue, which examination should 

 be continued for six weeks, during which 

 period they should take one pound and a-half 

 of the decoction of broom daily, or a drachm 

 of the powder four times a day. If, during 

 this time, no Icnots appear, there is nothing to 

 be apprehended ; but if they do appear, they 

 should be freely opened and cauterised, using 

 the gargle afterwards, as already described. 

 Since the above statement appeared in the 



Berlin State Gazette, an oinciul report was 

 niado to tho Prussian govcrniiK'nt, and j)ub- 

 lished in a subsecpient nuiuhcr of that paper, 

 representing that knots, similar to those de- 

 scribed by M. Maraschetti, had been formed 

 beneath tho tongue of a rabid do<j, iix West- 

 phalia. It is possible that tho above account 

 may be i'amiliar to most, if not all, medical 

 readers, and that many of them may regard it 

 as* resulting from either imposture or error; 

 but, as one and all of them admit that they 

 cannot cure this dreadful disease, surely any 

 suggestion is worth acting u[)on, if a melan- 

 choly opportunity should occur. 



Instances of rabid dogs are numerous. One 

 much attached to its owners, on one occasion 

 returned home, covered with dirt, and hid 

 itself in a blanket, and would not obey the 

 commands of those it had hitherto been ready 

 to serve by all the means in its power. Mr. 

 Touatt, the veterinary surgeon, was sent for, 

 and when he arrived he found the animal lying 

 in the lap of its mistress, no doubt receiving 

 all those endearments which such animals are 

 so apt to draw from all those who are attached 

 to them ; but it kept continually changing its 

 position, and starting at the least noise. Mr. 

 Youatt pronounced it rabid. The dog had 

 been licking the hands of its owner, and jMr. 

 Touatt urged a surgeon to be immediately sent 

 for. This was done, and the proprietors of 

 the animal were saved. 



The habit of allowing favourite dogs to 

 lick not only the hands, but the face, as some 

 do, is not only abominable in itself, but in 

 the last degree dangerous, for there are com- 

 paratively few out of the multitudes who keep 

 dogs, that have the slightest idea of the 

 symptoms of rabies, even when they have 

 made their appearance. A lady's spaniel was 

 rarely out of her sight, and yet it became 

 rabid. She did not know of its having been 

 bitten by any other animal, and her servant 

 denied all knowledge of its having been so ; 

 but tho dog died ; and, iu a few weeks after- 

 wards, the man was taken ill. He now made 

 a confession that the spaniel bad, on one 

 occasion, been attacked and rolled in the mud 

 by another dog, and that be had put it 

 through a process of ablution before he per- 

 mitted it to be seen by its mistress. The 

 dog which bad behaved so unceremoniouslv to 



477 



