228 

 number three cases only of failure have occurred; 

 but candour obliges me to own that these were pal- 

 pable and fair cases, for the medicine was given with 

 every caution. In the two cases of failure in dogs, 

 both were bitten in the head ; and from what I have 

 seen, I am disposed to believe that the disease more 

 certainly takes })lace, and in a less time, in those who 

 are bitten in the head than elsewhere. The horse 

 was also bitten in the lip, as well as in other parts ; 

 but time mu)«t shew how f;;r this opinion is well found- 

 ed. Out of the forty-five human persons who tried 

 this remedv, I believe not more than seven of them 

 trusted to its preventive powers alone ; in all the rest 

 I applied either the cautery or the knife to the com- 

 plete extirpation of the f)arts bitten : and in those who 

 trusted solely to it, it was by their own express desire, 

 and their dread of the other and more established 

 means of relief; for I am free to confess that I 

 think this remedy ought to be nmch more certainly 

 established in its reputation, before any human being 

 should be allowed to trust to it alone. It may not be 

 improper to remark, that tiie reputation and the 

 proofs of el^xacy of this preventive can only be esta- 

 blished on animals ; for the disease in them is much 

 more certain of foUowmg the inoculation than it is in 

 the human subject. Out of ten dogs bitten, I be- 

 lieve not more than two on an average escape ; but 

 out of the same number of human persons bitten, 

 perhaps not so many as two would become hydro- 

 phobous. 



It will not, perhaps, be considered as wholly irrele- 

 vant to my subject to introduce some other remarks, 

 the effect of an extensive experience on this subject 



