Facts relating to Hydrophobia. 145 



place, and the transmission of the poison from one human being to 

 another. I ought, perhaps, to state that most of the physicians, con- 

 sulted in the three cases of supposed transmission from one human 

 being to another, attributed their death to some other disease, such 

 as might be supposed to be attended by symptoms similar to those 

 which characterize this malady. It is believed, however, that th& 

 material facts, in these cases, vs^ere never fully made known to these 

 gentlemen. Neighbors and attendants, in whose possession they 

 were, feared, perhaps, to disclose them. 



Allow me to say that I was in some measure prepared to feel the 

 dangers of this disease, from having, in my early years, assisted in 

 destroying several rabid animals. The first was a dog nearly spent 

 with the disease. He was killed by a gun, in my father's barn-yard. 

 The utmost care, I well remember, was taken to avoid touching the 

 animal, and to remove, and bury with him, the straw and loose ma- 

 terials on which his saliva had fallen. At a subsequent time, while 

 the family were at breakfast, a fox appeared in the same yard, in 

 pursuit of the fowls. He ran after them, and when they flew, jump- 

 ed high to seize them. He was not intimidated at the sight of men, 

 or by the throwing of clubs and stones. Fears were entertained of 

 his being rabid, and the life of a noble dog was risked in preference 

 to suffering the animal to escape in this state. He was too feeble to 

 run with great speed, and the dog overtook, and seized him at the 

 distance of a hundred rods. I followed in the pursuit, and with the 

 aid of the trusty dog, a billet of wood, and a stone, killed the fox. 

 The poor dog, which every member of the family regretted to lose, 

 was shut up in a small stable, and fed and watered, daily, with care. 

 In about fourteen days he began to refuse food, and to be averse to 

 water. He soon began to loll, to discharge saliva, jump towards the 

 scaffold floor, bite sticks that were thrust through the sides of his pri- 

 son, and, when excited, to fly at its sides with such force that he 

 broke off his long teeth. It became evident that he was rabid, and 

 he was killed to shorten his sufferings. 



In 1807, W. C* vs^as bitten and wounded by a mad dog, when at 

 the age of eleven years, and on his way home from school. After 



' The rabid dog, which bit W. C, was seen, when he was bitten by another supposed 

 to be rabid. I had the facts from a gentleman now residing in Ohio, and as nearly as 

 I can recollect, they are as follow :— A strange dog crossed the orchard adjoining his 

 house, and was seen, without provocation, to seize and bite the dog which bit W. C. 

 The gentleman's daughter, then a small girl, now the widow of C. C, was in the 



Vol. XXIII.— No. 1. 19 



