ACUPITNCTURATION. 30? 



I shall close this appeal by a summary of conclusions, premising 

 once more on the absurdity of this error, that, if it has been proved 

 (and nothing is better substantiated) that the inoculation by rabid 

 virus, gained from either variety of the disease, indiscriminately 

 produces either kind of it ; how is it that the removal of the lingual 

 bridle only, whose eflFect is acknowledged " to be mechanical only," 

 is able to determine the form of the disease ; seeing that the cha- 

 racteristic marks of dumb madness are not confined to the mouth, 

 but consist of a series of morbid developments, extended through- 

 out the alimentary canal, and even affecting the cerebral functions 

 differently to what is done by the acute or raging kind ? How, I 

 would ask, is all this to be eflfected by the removal of a ligamentous 

 portion of the tongue ? Dumb madness, in particular, is not there- 

 fore the necessary result of worming, when a dog has been suc- 

 cessfully bitten. Dumb madness neither precludes a dog from 

 lapping or biting in its early stages^ nor does it invariably do so 

 in its worst stages. Worming, therefore, I positively affirm, is no 

 safeguard whatever against the dangerous consequences of rabies ; 

 and the practice of it is not creditable to our present enlarged state 

 of information. 



Worming is sometimes likewise practised on puppies, to prevent 

 their gnawing and tearing every thing around them, which they 

 are instinctively stimulated to, like the human infant, to assist the 

 development of the teeth, and also from wantonness and a love of 

 play ; and although, without doubt, worming, by making the 

 mouth sore, may for the time prevent such gnawing, yet the dog 

 recurs to it again as soon as the part is healed. I therefore think 

 it a useless operation here also. 



ACUPUNCTURATION, 



Or the puncturing some parts of the body with a pin, has been 

 practised with some appearance of benefit in chronic rheumatisms, 

 and also in the chorea of dogs. In a long- continued rheumatic 

 weakness of the loins and hinder extremities, a needle was intro- 



u2 



