148 HYDROPHOBIA CAUSED BY' THE BITE OF A CAT. 
go. The animal then found its way into the house of a 
neighbour, named James, who, attempting to seize it, had his 
hand bitten. He turned it out, and it then went into another 
neighbour’s house, named Thomas, and upon the daughter 
attempting to lay hold of it, it also bit her hand, after w hich 
the animal was driven out. Little more was thought of the 
occurrence till the deceased, a few days afterwards, began to 
complain of thirst, and also inflammation of the throat. He 
gradually got worse, and mentioning the circumstance of the 
bite he had received, expressed his fears of that being the 
cause of his suffering. Mr. White, surgeon, of Dowlais, and 
Mr. Dyke, surgeon, of Merthyr, attended him, but still he 
got worse; and during his illness several times complained 
of feeling as though his senses were going. During the last 
few days he appeared greatly depressed, and eventually died 
in a fit on Sunday last. During his illness, a report got 
current that he was mad, and in consequence thereof, great 
crowds assembled around his house. In the absence of any 
decided opinion from the surgeons that the case presented 
positive symptoms of hydrophobia, there is no doubt that 
the excitement which prevailed greatly accelerated his death. 
The circumstance having caused considerable alarm to the 
other persons who were bitten, we hope, on their account, 
the excitement of the neighbourhood will soon subside, and 
with it their dangers and imaginary fears. 
[From the report of the inquest on the body, which took 
place shortly after death, we have thought it necessary to 
extract only the evidence of the medical attendant.] 
Mr. J. L. White, surgeon, said he w r as first called to see 
the deceased on Friday morning, the 6th inst. He then 
found him standing on the step outside the house, to all ap¬ 
pearances in good health. The deceased told him that there 
was nothing the matter with him, excepting that he could 
not drink anything. He procured a glass of water and 
offered it to him to drink. The instant that he tried to bring 
it to his mouth he became so agitated that he (the witness) 
took it from him, and desisted from further offering it to 
him. It immediately occurred to him that these were symp¬ 
toms of hydrophobia, and he inquired of him if he had lately 
received any wound, to which he replied that he had not. 
Fie (the witness) then called the wife aside, and asked her the 
same question, to which she replied that the deceased had, 
that day month, been bitten by a cat. He returned to the 
deceased and again inquired of him, and he then pointed 
out two small scars on his finger, which he said were caused 
by the bite of a cat, that had wandered into his lodge, and 
