274 RABIES CANINA, 



stitution, the morbid action has been suspended. Of electri- 

 city and g-alvanism, as applied for the cure of rabies, I have 

 no experience : it has been fully tried in the human subject 

 without success. Vineg-ar, which, 'in Germany, was said to 

 have arrested the human disease, has failed in dogs in every 

 instance in which it has been made use of. Mercury I have 

 also tried to its fullest extent, and in most of its popular 

 forms, without benefii:. Camphor and opium, both by the 

 mouth and per ano, have proved equally inert in these 

 cases *. With the belladonna 1 succeeded no better ; and 

 the alisma plantago, or water plantain, has proved equally 

 unsuccessful with Mr. Youatt, The internal and external 

 exhibition of the volatile alkali has not been more fortunate, 

 although the analogy of its beneficial effects, in cases of poi- 

 soning by the bite of the cobra de capello, had raised hopes 

 of its proving useful here alsot. Cauterizings, scarifyings, 

 blisterings, &c., have been applied to the bitten part in the 

 human subject after the attack, but without avail. From the 

 known property of arsenic in lessening the spasm of epilepsy, 

 something was hoped from it in the hydrophobic spasm of 

 the human, but it has not answered the expectations formed. 

 On rabid dogs 1 have frequently tried it, and, from its de- 

 cided capability, evinced on each trial, of suspending the com- 

 plaint, I was once also led to hope much from it, but repeat- 

 ed experience ha^ proved that its benefits are not permanent^, 

 but act only like other violent means. Chlorine has been 



* Professor Dupuytren injected opium in solution into the veins of 

 two rabid dogs, but without any alleviation of the symptoms.— Dissert. 

 deCii. BusNOUT, Paris, 1814. 



f TissoT strongly recommends the Eau de Luce, and says, *' II calma 

 *' I'agitation, occasion un seur abondant et fit disparoitre les symi^toms." 

 — Avis au Penjde, torn, i, p. 179, 8vo, Paris. 



+ I have given it, in these cases, in very large doses, as five, six, and 

 even a greater number of grains, and have been surprised how little 

 effect it appeared to have, probably from the stomach being already 

 alFected with a specific inflammation, by which it was rendered less likely 

 to be acted upon by occasional causes. 



