658 
VETERINARY MEDICAL SOCIETY. 
irritation about the part bitten, was not often a precursor symp¬ 
tom in the human being* ? 
Mr. Dewhurst .—Yes : the first case that I saw was that of a 
boy: a Goulard lotion had been applied to the wound instead 
of excising* it. The boy was continually rubbing* his wrist, on 
which the bite had been inflicted. There were twitchings about 
the face and throat. Mr. Caesar Hawkins gave him prussic acid 
in small doses, and had so much command over him, that he 
could make him swallow the medicine, although it was accom¬ 
panied by painful effort and spasm; but, otherwise, if water was 
offered to him, or a looking-glass presented, a violent paroxysm 
ensued. He died three days after the first appearance of the 
disease. The pulse was quick and bounding, and the boy ex¬ 
pired in great agony. There appeared to be much increased vas¬ 
cularity of the brain and its membranes. The back part of the 
tongue and the fauces were highly inflamed. 
The second case which he saw was that in which amputation 
was performed without success. The symptoms were nearly the 
same. 
Mr. J, Turner .—Some gentleman has recommended that the 
principal trunk of the nerve above the part bitten should be ex¬ 
cised. Has Mr. Dewhurst any experience of this? 
Mr. Dewhurst .— None. I had a relative who had a dog de¬ 
cidedly mad, and into whose veins warm w ater was injected, and 
he recovered; and, I think, from the influence of this operation. 
The same operation has been tried on the human being, but has 
not succeeded in this country. I recollect experiments with the 
nux vomica. A ligature was applied round the limb above the 
part on which the poison w as applied, and no effect was pro¬ 
duced. In another case no ligature was applied, and the dog 
died. Will this throw any light on a mode of treatment that it 
may be worth while to adopt in cases of persons bitten by rabid 
dog’s ? 
Mr. Langworthy .—In the dog, is there irritation of the bitten 
part ? 
Mr. Dewhurst .—I have seen a few cases in which this w r as ob¬ 
served. I could not learn wdiether this occurred in the old wo¬ 
man’s dog. 
The third proposition was now discussed. 
Mr. Dewhurst had no doubt that ungratified sexual appetite, and 
other circumstances of excitement connected w ith sexual desire, 
or the love of offspring, w ere causes of rabies. He spoke of the 
tiger robbed of her young exhibiting every symptom of furious 
madness. He referred to the case of the elephant at Cross’s me¬ 
nagerie, whose fury could not be restrained. He had heard that 
wolves often became mad at these oeriods. 
