I 
74 MINUTES OF EVIDENCE ON CANINE MADNESS. 
Would you not have heard of it if any such had occurred in the 
London hospitals?—I have little doubt but that I should have 
heard of it, from the extreme rarity of the disease, and the great 
interest it excites in medical men. 
What species of dog was that party bitten by?—I believe a 
terrier; but the previous history was not dictinctly made out. 
Many persons bitten have applied of late at the hospitals, 
because every person who has been bitten is now alarmed. 
Have you any doubt that that was a case of hydrophobia?— 
Net the slightest. 
Was any thing done for him as to cutting out the part, or any 
thing’ of that sort, before you saw him ?—I believe not. Certainly 
not in the hospital; because the disease was then established. 
In a former case, I cut out the part after the symptoms of the 
disease had appeared. The man bore the operation with astonish¬ 
ing fortitude; but he fell back and died, as if from exhaustion, 
immediately on its completion. This man had been bitten three 
weeks before by a cat, and was brought to the hospital on the 
appearance of the symptoms. 
Have you had instances of people coming to be cut and burnt 
as soon as bitten?—Many. 
Have they considerably increased of late?—Decidedly. I will 
mention a fact to the Committee, to shew how the public mind 
is influenced by the prevailing reports. There is a girl now 
under my care in the hospital, who has been bitten in the leg by 
a dog, and she has been seriously ill in her general health, which 
was not at all disordered upon her admission. I find, upon inquiry, 
that her mind is distressed with the apprehension that she may 
become the subject of hydrophobia, although she is assured the 
dog is alive and well; and similar cases have occurred in which, 
before the patient's mind could be set at rest, it has been necessary 
to produce the dog to convince the patient that it was not mad. 
Mr. Hunter mentions a case of this kind. This girl, the sister of the 
ward informed me, has fallen into a low state of spirits from mental 
apprehension; her ill health certainly does not arise from the inj ury. 
Do you consider that excision, when tried before the symptoms 
appear, is generally a perfectly efficient remedy ?—I should say, 
the only remedy on which to depend, and generally efficient, not 
always. 
What is the longest time in which you think it is possible for it 
to have a good effect?—There is reason to believe that it would 
be right to remove the part at any period before the appearance 
of the disease. 
At what time would it be inefficient to cut out the part?— 
I think it would be inefficient upon the accession of spasms. 
