152 Facts relating to Hydrophobia. 



increase during the spasms, till he finally sunk under them. This 

 man's services have always been sought, and freely rendered in ex- 

 treme sickness. He affirms that he never witnessed cases at all re- 

 sembling these. In attending on the last individual, he covered with 

 rags spots of fractured skin on his hands, lest the saliva of the patient 

 should reach them. Another procured and constantly wore, a pair 

 of stout gloves. An attendant in one of the cases, says, that twelve 

 hours' service at a time, was as much as he could endure, and that 

 others were obliged frequently to change, and retire from the scene, 

 and suspend the efforts required of them when present. 



Many testify that there was in all the cases, during the spasms or 

 spells as termed, an uncommon scent from the patient's breath. This 

 was observed in every case by numbers. Some designate it by the 

 epithet strong ; others say they never experienced the like before, 

 nor since, and they cannot describe it. All seem to remember it as 

 perfectly distinct in its character. One person in endeavoring to con- 

 vey an idea of it, said it resembled that of cats and dogs when fight- 

 ing. This smell was not perceived, except at the times when the 

 patient raved, or had spells, and frothed at the mouth. 



It is the opinion of attendants, that the patients were literally stiff- 

 ened during the spasms, and that in the latter stages of the disease, 

 they might have been raised up erect, by the application of force to 

 the head, without any bending of the body. The corpses were stiff 

 immediately after dissolution, and the jaws set so as to require no 

 mufHer. On them, and near the surface of the skin, blue spots ap- 

 peared, which some mistook for indications of mortification. One 

 was kept four days, and on this body the spots wholly disappeared, 

 and it underwent no other visible change. It is stated that the spots 

 appeared as soon as the patient was supposed to be struck with death, 

 and that when they disappeared, they left the skin slightly affected, 

 and of a greenish hue. It is said the corpses had a strange appear- 

 ance, the countenance resembling that of a living person in health 

 when cold. Some designate this appearance by the epithet blue. 



P. S. An intelligent medical man, who has heard the above state- 

 ment, and conversed largely with witnesses, believes these cases to 

 have been hydrophobia. Two of them have been attributed by oth- 

 ers to delirium tremens, but the previous habits of the patients did 

 not favor that idea ; none of the four were addicted to the use of ar- 

 dent spirits, and one of them had a constitutional aversion to distilled 

 liquors. 



