Scientific Intelligence. 205 



I wish these facts generally known, as they may be of service to 

 our fellow citizens at large. 



Singular case of Hydrophobia. — A case is related in the Lan- 

 cet, a London Monthly Periodical, of a man having died with all the 

 horrors of hydrophobia, and the dog that had bitten him betraying 

 no such symptoms. The statement is from an eminent surgeon, and 

 is well attested by several respectable names. Soon after the man 

 was bitten, he applied to a medical gentleman, intimating, however, 

 his firm conviction that the dog was not mad. As the dog was evi- 

 dently sick, the surgeon took the precaution of having him placed in 

 a secure situation, and from day to day watched the progress of his 

 symptoms till he died. From the most attentive observation, the 

 surgeon could not observe the slightest appearance of rabies ; the 

 animal lay quiet, walked firmly, breathed easily, had no abhorrence 

 of fluids, and caressed his master as usual. His death appeared to 

 be accompanied with pain, and on being opened, the body presented 

 none of those appearances which are generally produced by hydro- 

 phobia. In about a fortnight after the decease of the animal, the 

 man was taken with the usual symptoms of rabies, and died in dread- 

 ful convulsions. The case has excited considerable interest, as it 

 proves that hydrophobia, in animals, is not confined to one character, 

 but assumes different shapes. 



Remarks on the above cases and on the uses of the chloric pre- 

 parations.* — Ed. 



We have added the account of the last hydrophobic case, for the 

 purpose of saying, that it might be prudent in every instance of a bite 

 from a dog, or other animal, whether supposed to be rabid or not, to 

 wash the wound frequently with the solution of chloride of lime. 

 From what we now know of the powers of chlorine, it is not too much 

 to hope for, that it may prove an antidote to every case of poison, pro- 

 vided it be applied in season, and before the system is fatally affected. 



It appears highly probable that hydrogen, from its being the light- 

 est and most subtle of all known ponderable bodies, may enter into 

 the composition of such active agents as poisons. Fontana exa- 

 mined the poison of the viper and of other animals, but we know not 

 whether, as in prussic acid, hydrogen is the active principle. In the 

 present No. it appears (p. 17'4,) that chlorine destroyed the effect 



" Ingenious views of the nature and action of these preparations are presented .by 

 Dr. L. C. Beck, in a memoir, Vol. XIV, p. 251, of this Journal, 



