vii HYDROPHOBIA 59 



Watson had been consulted. The symptoms were of a typical 

 character, developing four months after the bite of a cat, 

 and they progressed to the usual fatal result. Fothergill, 

 ever striving to cure, however hopeless the outlook, sums up 

 his experience in the following advice. When the wound is 

 received let it be cleansed with salt and water ; enlarge it by 

 the cautery or knife, or by firing with a few grains of gun- 

 powder, or still better by excision ; and promote discharge 

 for a long time. Observe whether the bite was through any 

 covering ; do not kill the animal, but confine it ; and assure 

 the patient that the liability is remote. Should the disease 

 develop, avoid all useless measures, however much reputed, 

 such as sea-bathing, the Ormskirk or Tonquin remedies, 

 Turbith mineral, or Mead's powder ; their apparent cures 

 were in imaginary cases. Support the strength by much 

 food, using clysters of egg and broth if needful. Soothe and 

 relax the system by baths at 80 to 86 Fahr., which may 

 contain bay salt or pot pourri ; the patient to lie in them as 

 long as he is easy ; and baths and clysters to be repeated 

 with perseverance. Mercurial ointment or inhalation of 

 cinnabar fumes may be tried, also bleeding in moderation ; 

 opium seems to be useless. But the outlook he confesses is 

 an ill one, and those who are called to attend these cases 

 should be bound by honour and the ties of humanity to record 

 their experience fully, so that the field of conjecture may be 

 contracted and new lines of investigation pursued. 1 



EPILEPSY 



Fothergill was not unsuccessful in treating some nerve 

 complaints, little as they were then understood. In his 

 Remarks on the Cure of the Epilepsy, written in the fulness of 

 his clinical experience, he says he has tried the usual specifics 

 for the disease, such as valerian, castor, the foetid gums and 

 empyreumatic oils, besides mistletoe and cardamom flowers, 

 but with many disappointments. Indeed he suspects that 

 the disgusting taste of most of these drugs is the means of 

 benefit when this takes place, by reducing the appetite and 

 lessening the food taken. For diet is in this as in many other 



1 Fothergill's paper, published in 1774 in the Med. Obs. & Inq. v. 195, was 

 afterwards reprinted as a pamphlet with additions. See Works, ii. 221. 

 Also Medical Transactions, Roy. Coll. Phys. ii. 46, 192, 222. Lettsom advised 

 that a pointed stick of lapis infernalis (nitrate of silver) should be thrust into 

 the opening made by the dog's tooth and worked deeply. Hints, iii. 224 ; 

 Memoirs, iii. 144. 



