286 OUR BODIES AND HOW WE LIVE 



A mad-dog bite is really a lacerated wound. In the little 

 roughnesses, and between the shreds, may be poisonous 

 saliva. If these projections and depressions affording the 

 lodgment can be removed, the poison may not do much 

 harm. If done with a knife, the wound would be converted, 

 practically, into a cut wound, and would require treatment 

 for such. 1 



Remove the clothing at once from the bitten part, and 

 apply a temporary ligature above the wound. This inter- 

 rupts the activity of the circulation of the part, and to that 

 extent may delay, or even prevent, the absorption of the 

 poisonous saliva. 



If the wound is at once well cleansed with antiseptic 

 washes, and a stick of solid nitrate of silver (lunar caustic) 

 rapidly applied to the entire surface, the danger of blood 

 poisoning is greatly diminished. 



Poultices, kept hot and moist with antiseptic solutions, 

 may be applied to the injured parts to hasten 'the slough- 

 ing away of the tissues whose vitality has been intentionally 

 destroyed. 



If a physician is at hand, he will probably cut out the 

 injured portion, or cauterize it thoroughly. A doctor's 

 help is not always at our command. In such a case it 

 would be a safe, and by no means a painful, procedure to 

 take a poker, or other suitable piece of iron, heat it red hot, 

 and cauterize the entire surface of the wound. 



1 Any dog, after having bit a person, is apt, under a mistaken belief, to 

 be at once killed. This should not be done. The suspected animal should 

 be immediately placed in confinement and watched, under proper safe- 

 guards, for the appearance of any symptoms that indicate rabies. Should 

 no pronounced symptoms indicate this disease in the dog, a great deal of 

 unnecessary mental distress and worry can be saved both the person bitten 

 and his friends. 



