530 
EXCISION OF THE BITTEN PARTS 
poison began to exert its fatal power; confirming the propriety of 
the mode of prevention then resorted to by the thoughtful, and 
now universally admitted as the only rational one; and giving rise 
to the inquiry, urged by these gentlemen, whether, even after the 
time for prophylactics had ceased, after the affection was no longer 
a strictly local one, the free excision of the bitten parts ought not 
to be adopted,” as destroying the original focus of mischief—the 
source whence the fatal nervous erythism now prevailing first 
sprung, and whence, possibly, its supply of deadly influence was 
drawn. 
The principle of counter-irritation was not forgotten—counter¬ 
irritation set up not only in the neighbourhood of the original 
seat of morbid action, but in the part itself. Much, perhaps, was 
not hoped from this; and yet, possibly, in some cases, where the 
balance of power was nearly equal, it might turn the scale. 
The knife and the caustic—the knife to prepare the way for 
the caustic—were in frequent requisition ; but long without any 
satisfactory result. The symptoms of rabies once having de¬ 
veloped themselves, the disease would pursue its course in spite 
of these means of prevention. 
At length a case did occur in which the approach of the 
disease could not be mistaken, and one of the symptoms was 
evident inflammation of the bitten part: the knife and the 
caustic were here freely used, and every symptom gradually dis¬ 
appeared, and the patient recovered. 
A long time having intervened, a second case of the same 
kind came under his notice, in which the same measures w'ere 
adopted, and were attended by the same success. It may be sup¬ 
posed that he was not a little elated at this, and that some few 
professional day-dreams were indulged in. This renewed excision 
of the bitten part was no longer justifiable on theory alone; it bore 
the stamp of practical success—success, the instances of which, 
indeed, were few and far between, but which it was no longer 
folly occasionally to expect. 
He was, however, reckoning a little too fast. There came 
another patient. The dog was suspected to have been bitten: 
it was in a manner certain that he had been bitten; but the 
