894 
ANIMAL PAriiOLOGV. 
what course is he to pursue ? What preventive means are to be 
adopted ? Some persons, and of no mean standing in the medical 
world, have recommended a ligature. The reply would be that this 
ligature must be worn during a very inconvenient and dangerous 
period of time. The virus lies in the wound inert during many 
successive weeks or months. 
Dr. Haygarth first suggested a long-continued stream of water 
upon the wound from the mouth of a tea-kettle. He says that 
the poison exists in a fluid form, and therefore we should sup¬ 
pose that water would be its natural solvent. Dr. Measey adds 
to this, that, if the wound is small, it should be dilated, in order 
that the stream may fall on the part on which the poison is de¬ 
posited. I am far, however, from being certain that this falling 
of water on the part may not by possibility force a portion of 
the virus farther into the texture, or cause it to be entanoled 
with other parts of the wound. 
There is a similar or stronger objection to the cupping-glass of 
Dr. Barry. The virus, forced from the texture with which it 
lies in contact by the rush of blood from the substance beneath, 
is too likely to inoculate or become entangled with other parts of 
the wound. 
There is a greater objection to suction of the wound, for, in 
addition to this possible entanglement, the lips or the mouth 
may have been abraded, and the danger highly aggravated*. 
There also remains the undecided question as to the absorption 
of the virus through the medium of a mucous surface. 
Excision of the part is the mode of prevention generally adopt¬ 
ed by the human surgeon, and it would seem to be most judi¬ 
cious practice. If the virus is not received into the circulation, 
but lies dormant in the w^ound for a considerable period, the dis¬ 
ease cannot supervene if the inoculated part is destroyed. 
The following is a strong case of the efficacy of excision :— 
In September 1818, three persons were bitten by a dog at 
Knightsbridge. The wounds were excised immediately; but 
one of the sufferers, who had been bitten in his thigh, did not dis¬ 
cover until the fourth day that the prepuce had been torn by the 
teeth of the animal: this also was excised; and they were all 
saved. 
This operation, however, demands greater tact and skill than 
is sometimes supposed. It requires a determination fully to accom¬ 
plish the desired object, for every portion of the wound with 
* The physician Apollonius having been bitten by a rabid dog, induced 
another dog to lick the wound : “ ut idem inedicus esset qui vulneris auctor 
fuit.” 
