APPENDIX.-D. 
349 
animal , I was next advised with about the wounded owner or 
attendant. It often occurred also, that, when the case was sub¬ 
mitted to any other surgeon, my attendance was likewise re¬ 
quested ; by which means I have seen, comparatively, nearly as 
much of human as of brute practice, in the preventive treatment 
of rabies. I have myself operated on upwards of fifty persons, 
who had been unquestionably bitten by rabid dogs, and on a 
few bitten by cats, every one of whom did well; which state¬ 
ments I make principally to enforce dependance on the practi¬ 
cal truths which have preceded, and on those directions which 
are to follow. 
“Although the removal of the bitten part may be undertaken 
at any time short of the attack, yet as it is always uncertain at 
what time this secondary inflammation may take place, so it is 
prudent to perform the excision, or cauterization, as soon as is 
convenient; but it is frequently a matter of great importance 
to the peace of those unfortunately wounded to know, that, 
when any accidental cause has delayed the operation, it may be 
as safely done at the end of several days as it would at the first 
moment of the accident. I have myself repeatedly removed the 
bitten parts many days, and not unfrequently weeks even, after 
the original wound had been perfectly healed up ; yet the ope¬ 
ration has always proved completely successful. Of the methods 
resorted to for the extirpation of the bitten parts, the actual 
cautery , the 'potential cautery , and excision , are employed, and 
have each of them their advocates. 
“ The actual cautery was employed by the ancients, who 
burned the parts with heated iron, sometimes with brass, silver, 
or gold. Some of the moderns have also favored its use ; and 
as it is a remedy immediately at hand, it is not an ineligible 
one, particularly where the unnecessary dread of after conse¬ 
quences, from immediate absorption, is fixed in the mind, and 
also where other assistance is not at hand. When, likewise the 
wound is of a determinate form, and superficial in extent, the 
actual cautery is a ready and convenient method, particularly 
with regard to horses, cows, and other large animals, who are 
