260 
A CASE OF RABIES. 
By H. Bateman, Esq., M.R.C.S . , Islington. 
[This truly interesting account is abbreviated from that reported 
by Mr. Bateman in the improved and highly valuable periodical, 
The Lancet. ] 
A BRICKLAYER, going home to his lodgings on the 24th of last 
December, observed a dog following him, who came into the house, 
and placed himself under his chair. A little time afterwards, on 
looking on the dog with a candle, the beast seized his hand, and 
bit him severely. The dog was driven out of the house, and no- 
thing more was thought of the matter. 
About a month ago the man complained that his finger was pain- 
ful, and, by the advice of a relative, he applied some diachylon 
plaister to it, after which it appeared to be quite well. On the 
18th of February he complained of pain in the wrist and hand. 
On the following day the pain was worse, and he was delirious 
two or three times, and could neither eat nor drink. Mr. Bateman 
was sent for, and told of the bite. He found the man with a 
countenance expressive of horror, and complaining of pain in the 
chest and the region of the diaphragm. He was desired to swal- 
low a little tea, which he gulped down without losing a drop, and 
then convulsively started back two or three paces. His respira- 
tion was hurried, with a frequent convulsive jerking action. Me- 
dicine, both purgative and sedative, were prescribed, and he became 
delirious three times in that day. He would now have injured 
those around him, or, perhaps, have destroyed himself, for he at- 
tempted to get at the poker for some such purpose. He was con- 
fidently secured by a straight-waistcoat. He had repeated ex- 
pectorations and vomitings, spitting about the room, and, apparently, 
as if purposely on the hands of those around him. About every 
two hours the symptoms were worse. He died on the 24th, a day 
less than nine weeks from the time he was bitten, and three days 
from the first accession of pain in the hand. 
The external appearance of his body was livid. The tunica 
arachnoides was thickened — the pia mater congested, and the plexus 
choroides gorged with blood. The air-passages, from the glottis 
downward, were filled with bloody froth to a strange extent. The 
blood was, apparently, secreted of that colour, and not formed so 
by its mixing with any fluid. The fore finger — the part bitten — 
did not present any morbid appearance whatever. The marks of 
the wound in the skin were barely discernible, and there was not 
the slightest hardness in the cicatrix. 
