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THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY 



and groans most miserably; loses, by degrees, all know- 

 ledge of his dearest friends and most familiar acquaintance: 

 and their presenting themselves before him, is the very 

 critical moment when all of this description give proof of 

 their desire to bite, which, in the attempt, bears no ill affi- 

 nity to the similar snappings of a village cur. 



Awful to relate, reason returns at intervals, and he feel- 

 ingly laments his own calamity, and deplores his own inca- 

 pacity. A consciousness of approaching dissolution is per- 

 ceptible even to himself, and he seems truly resigned to 

 the singularity of his fate. Severe pain and consequent 

 heat producing thirst, a desire to drink is displayed, but 

 nature shrinks from her office; in vain the patient raises his 

 hand to touch the vessel, it almost magically produces in- 

 stant tremor — the hand recedes, and he sinks into the most 

 afflicting despondency. Conscious, likewise, of his con- 

 stantly increasing inclination to bite, he, in his rational 

 moments, makes signals to warn his friends of the danger, 

 and keep themselves at a distance. Towards the conclu- 

 sion of this dreadful and most melancholy scene, the fever 

 and parching thirst increase, the tongue becomes swelled 

 and protruded, foam issues from the mouth, strength fails, 

 cold sweats come on, the stricture on the breast increases, 

 as well as the other predominant symptoms, until, in a long 

 succession of convulsive struggles, all-powerful death closes 

 the scene. 



The cause of the hydrophobia is utterly unknown; audits 

 effects hitherto appear to have baffled every remedy which 

 has been tried for its removal. Copious and repeated vene- 

 section was, a few years ago, announced to the world as a 

 cure for the hydrophobia, and instances were given in order 

 to confirm it: it is true, they came in a questionable shape 

 on account of the distance they had to travel, being chiefly 

 from the East Indies:; however, the method just mentioned, 

 has been tried in this country and found unavailing. 



The alisma planfjago was introduced as a remedy, but, 

 on repeated trial, has proved ineffectual. 



Another remedy Has been introduced. This new remedy 

 comes from a distance; but let us not reject it merely on that 

 score. The account has appeared in several medical works, 

 and was first published, it seems, by Dr. Muller; of Vienna, 

 a scientific physician, now resident at Paris. The German 

 physician says, he received the particulars from M. Maro- 

 chetti, a Russian surgeon, who informed him, that, during 

 his residence in the Ukraine, in the year 1S13, he was call- 

 ed on to attend fifleen persons who had been bit by a mad 

 dog, when some old men requested him to treat the unfor- 

 tunate people according to the directions of a neighbouring 

 peasant, who had acquired a great reputation for curing the 

 hydrophobia. M. Marochctti allowed the peasant to attend 

 fourteen, reserving one to himself, a female of sixteen, who 



was cauterized and treated in the usual way, and expired 

 eight days after the attack. The peasant gave to the 

 fourteen persons placed under his care a strong decoction of 

 the tops of the flowers of the yellow broom, (a pound and a 

 half a day.) He examined twice a day the under part of 

 the tongue, where he had generally discovered little pim- 

 ples, containing, as believed, the hydrophobic poison: these 

 pimples really followed, and were observed by Marochetti 

 himself. As they formed, the peasant opened them, and 

 cauterized the parts with a red hot needle; after which, the 

 patients gargled with the decoction mentioned above. The 

 result of this treatment was, that the fourteen patients were 

 cured, having only drank the decoction for six weeks. 

 Marochetti then states, that, five years afterwards, he him- 

 self had an opportunity of giving this treatment another 

 trial. Twenty-six persons who had been bitten by a mad 

 dog, were put under his care, viz: nine men, eleven women, 

 and six children: he ordered the decoction of the tops of the 

 flowers of yellow broom to be given them as soon as possi- 

 ble; and upon an attentive examination of their tongues, he 

 discovered pimples on five men, three children, and all the 

 women. Those who were most wounded were afflicted on 

 the third day: the others on the fifth, seventh, or ninth. 

 One of the women who had been slightly bitten in the leg 

 had no appearance till the twenty-first day. The seven who 

 were free from pimples took the decoction of broom for six 

 weeks, with success. M. Marochetti thinks that the hydro- 

 phobic poison, after having remained in the wound, fixes 

 itself under the tongue, in the orifices of the ducts of the 

 submaxillary gland, which are situated on the sides of the 

 fraenum. The inflammation of which the little pimples are 

 the result, has a peculiar appearance. The time in which 

 these pimples appear, is generally between the third and 

 ninth day after the bite. If they are not opened before 

 twenty-four hours after their appearance, the venom is ab- 

 sorbed, and the patient is lost. 



Dumb Madness. — Upon the disease, erroneously deno- 

 minated Dumb Madness, I will relate what fell under my 

 own observation, and from which a tolerable idea of the 

 disorder may be formed: — "In the month of May, 1823, 

 a pointer whelp was presented to me by a friend, which I 

 knew to be as well bred as any in the kingdom, and on 

 that account, I, of course, prized him more highly. The 

 Dog was whelped on the 16th of April, of the same year; 

 and as soon as I received him, a kennel was appropriated 

 for his use in the open air, well littered with wheat straw, 

 and kept clean. He had full liberty, and a clear stream of 

 water close at hand, to quench his thirst whenever he 

 thought proper. The Dog, as might be expected, was re- 

 markably healthy; and, at seven months old, had become 

 an amazingly fine animal: at this period, he experienced a 



