92 HUNTING DIRECTORY. 



Orraskirk Medicine. 



preserve even an appearance of character, will attempt 

 to palm the medicine upon the world ; but it has stiU its 

 supporters, and a number of old women, in various parts 

 of Lancashire, still practice the deception ; and shew 

 considerable dexterity in propping its falling reputatioUr 



The recipe was obtained by the late Mr. Hill's father, 

 who resided near Oi-mskirk, from an itinerant tinker, in 

 the year 1704. The medicine is thus prepared : — take 

 one tea spoonful of prepared (calcined) oyster shells, one 

 knife point full of roach alum, as much elecampane, in 

 powder, and half a tea spoonful of bole ammoniac ; all 

 to be powdered finely, and given to the patient in the 

 morning fasting, in a little wine and water, or small beer : 

 at the same time the wound is to be dressed with a pre- 

 paration, varying from that just described, only in a 

 greater portion of roach alum. 



Not one dog in twenty, reputed mad, is so in reality — 

 the cxire, or rather the prevention, therefore, is certain 

 in many instances ; and where it happens otherwise, and 

 the dog was labouring under the hydrophobia, the result 

 is most melancholy : but then it is immediately and un- 

 blushingly asserted, that the medicine had not operated 

 in a proper manner — it had not remained upon the 

 stomach, or been taken in sufficient quantity ; and thus 

 the cheat continues, though on a much more circum- 

 scribed scale. 



The fact is, that the only certain remedy hitherto dis- 

 covered for this dreadful disease, is the application of 

 the knife : — the blood becomes infected by the saliva 

 from the dog's teeth ; and unless the bitten part can be 

 immediately cut out, death will most likely be the result, 



