VEGETABLE POISONS. 197 



favourable to its production ; that it is equally 

 observable in the East Indies and America as in 

 Europe; though Syria, Egypt, the states of 

 Barbary, the Cape of Good Hope, and the West 

 Indian Islands, from causes which we cannot 

 explain, have hitherto, with very few exceptions, 

 escaped its invasion ; and that in whatever coun- 

 try it has appeared, the prospect of cure has been 

 equally hopeless. 



Remedies, from time immemorial, have been 

 handed down to us as certain specifics for the 

 prevention of hydrophobia ; and which, from 

 the few instances of that disease following the 

 bite of a dog supposed to be rabid, and from the 

 difficulty often in ascertaining whether the dog 

 really were rabid or not, have for a considerable 

 time preserved a reputation, which subsequent 

 experience has proved, they have not merited. 



Among these may be first mentioned, the Orm- 

 shirk powder, the leading ingredient of which is 

 chalk, introduced under the supposition of the 

 poison being an acid, which such an absorbent 

 is calculated to neutralize. This remedy, which 

 repeated trials have proved to be perfectly ineffi- 

 cacious, has had a long run, and is hardly out of 

 use at the present day. 



The next is the Tonquin powder, an Asiatic 

 remedy, composed of red sulphuret of mercury 

 and musk, two very powerful ingredients, which 



