164 
ANIMAL PATHOLOGY. 
With some difficulty, however, I contrived to give him two 
drachms of the powdered root, suspended in mucilage. He was 
evidently quieter. Six hours afterwards the dose was repeated. 
The desire to do mischief altogether ceased, and a torpor amount¬ 
ing to almost paralysis succeeded, and he died in twenty hours 
after the second dose. About the same time I administered the 
same drug to another dog, rabid and ferocious. His ferocity was 
subdued, and the disease was protracted ; but he died. At other 
times the alisma did not produce the slightest effect. This was 
the case with almost all the sedatives to which T had recourse. 
The best marked case of the power of the alisma was that of a 
dog belonging to a lady well known at that period,—Mrs. 
Hodges, of four-in-hand celebrity. 
Feb, 13, 1819.—Her spaniel had for two days refused his food. 
He had become exceedingly irritable—he lapped his own urine— 
and uttered the characteristic howl—he was indubitably rabid. 
He was brought to me early in the morning, and at nine a.m. 
two drachms of the powdered alisma plantago were given to him, 
suspended in mucilage. For an hour he continued restless, and 
howling as before ; but about noon the howl had changed to a 
fainter sound, resembling a whine, and the dog was sitting on his 
haunches, quiet and depressed. At two p.m. the dose was re¬ 
peated. He struggled against it, and, from partial suffocation 
or exhaustion, he fell on his side, stretched himself out, and ap¬ 
peared as if he were dying. He soon recovered, and, half an 
hour afterwards, I found him quietly seated as before. His 
breathing was less laborious—his whining had ceased—the wild¬ 
ness of his countenance was gone ; he wagged his tail when 
spoken to, and arose and came slowly towards me. He refused 
to eat, but lapped, and seemed to swallow a little water; and I 
saw him void his urine, and turn from it without lapping it. At 
seven p.m. he was sitting quietly, but his muzzle hanging as low 
as his elbow. He recognized me, and faintly wagged his tail. 
Another drachm of the alisma was given: he again struggled, 
and seemed to be dying, but in ten minutes he resumed his sit¬ 
ting posture. I saw him in this situation at ten o’clock, but at 
six on the following morning he was dead. 
A fair trial was given to the Belladonna, which was said to have 
been very successfully used on the continent. The most violent 
symptoms were almost invariably mitigated, but rapid exhaustion 
followed, and frequently paralysis. The ferocity of the animal 
generally ceased, but he died about the usual time. 
To this followed the Scutellaria Laterifolia of Dr. Spalding. 
I was at some pains to get it genuine, but in no one instance 
