The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-11-02 00:00:00

THE CURE FOR HYDROPHOBIA.

The following letters are taken from the eeNenlis of
theThrity l'elegraph

Some of your readers may like to know that one member
of the me,fical ptofeeekon did not dieffain the buffing cure
for hydrophobia. About tiventy.a.Ve years ago it WM a
general topic of bonversation la toe neighbourhood that the
late Dr Perfect, many years in practice at Town Mailing,
about two miles distant from tinting, wishing, it was cold, it
should be inure widely known, offered £3OO for the recipe,
but was met by a refusal I knew Dr Perfect, not only as a
clever ...actor, hut a shrewd and sensible man, and I do not
think it likely he would have made the offer as mere seem.
In'Aou without feeling satisfied he had something'll return
which would reimburse hi. outlay —1 remain, &C..
Oct. VI ONE Wile LIVED AT LEIBOUENE.

I feel very much Interested and indebted to yon or your
valuable artime of Oct. 111 on hydrophobia, tho Ugh I am not
clear as to whether Maraschetti's pl. •13 fully tried—vi'. ,
the brown decoction and wash, as well as burning th.ev foots
under the tongue, Still, allowing that it wan tiled fairly,
there is one remedy you did not name which has been tried
with riccess by one or two physiclema or surgeons—the I
vapour bath. This was &serve:el in France some ',entre
back in the following manncr :A physic:fun he."lleg beeu
bitten by a dog, and becoming mad was nr..l.;te to hear the
pain, and resolved on 0 .emmitting sulabei. lie decided that
the vapour bath was the easiest rt.?, lit the tire, wag lolkd
to deep, :on-I awoke cured. leve tried the vapour bath after-
wards, with the addition elf vi dent muscular exercism swd -
cured eighty-three patit.bts of the disease. Sly eras .Ilinneer
la this remedy*/ 4.1 tried oftener in linglanit.77-Al.t'aiain, ,tee.,
Oct. 21. W. U.
it appears I did not .uticiently explain—so, at least, I
Sm.ge from numeseena letters to me—that I cannot myself I
supply the ,Ifirliner recipe to any one It is a secret In tlYe
posrevaion 01 a family in the parish, whose reptutentatlim is
Mr. wltihop, builder, Birling, Maidstone, The mearigne'ror I
C selectiou of cases treated on is tersunad pence.; rill he tat
warded by him to any one alinhoill: for he
Mr. Grantley Berkeley awl others ivlvet. `ntterly disbelieve
this remedy, so Mr no am comierne., shall have the oppor-
tunity of ;Aeons:lag facts noich militate against eihnlr
theories •, and In the belief that the stibje:et Is ant of great
public Intestest, I pentane° to give theme tow of them to
(gent cud dirseet tin any way they Bun.
1 I will conlene myself for ..tn prevent to one. It will be
for them to elispr4ive—flevt, that the dog was mud seson'lly,
that the man teifinli coined mptonieof li!cti.'.opoobial
thirdly, that his recovery was due to the rirllng cure.
On the elOth July, 1866, Richard 'l.O Rite, of Thsey, he the
county Of Surrey, living in a cottage close to the grounds of
0. teveson Gower,. etA. (late M.P. for Reigate), was leitren
In the arm and thigh by a dog. The same dog bit at the
tattle time e cow, whioh died mad. White's w Minds Were
zatiterieed at once ley a Westerham surgeon. On. Piatieey,
hesseVer, the 2.5111 of August. White eXperfenernl strong
panel in the arm, with etrenge sensatiCM, t'.leM as choking,
and an inclination to bite thing* Wee him j, the cow.
crib when milking. l'iute, the oonviction that hydrophobia
was coming on rapsdiy, the Biding medicine was then Bent
for. Ile took n,!...oree on the 27th August, and at rune felt re•
tiered, are. Is alive now after an interval of six yearn.
f. Vetere I have correctly stated the Matt Mr. eo*er
nedild put me right in any error which I may hart inadrer.
tently made, but to the best o! my recollection the account
Is true. I cannot see the flaw In the proof of thiil ease and
other., but of course lam open,to conviction, and only wink
that truth may prevail.--1 Cm, *c.,
oat, 26. h. V. Mimi, Vicar of Rifling.

A -correspondent also sends the following extract
from the Westminister Journal of Oct. 15, 1796
. .

The hydrophobia some time since appeared amongst the
hounds of Colonel Itoßeston, near Roscrea ; one of thorn bit
an ass, which almost immediately became MOd. an.i fly
biting a very tine mare dashed itself artainst a wail, ht which
it was destroyed. The infection commin&ated to the mare
was not less rapid in its progress Cm animal became uni-
versal*, convulsed, bit at everything, and after running
lustionsly about sprang into a river covered with sedge,
where several persons, ignorant of the cause ran to
assist her, but from whence she got out witho't citing
any of the people, and, with a undoes,: scarcely con-
ceivable, plunged into a pit, wl•eto she was dashed to
pieces SOull as the infection twaine visible amongst the
hounds Colonel itolleston Ind them tied up separately, where
those diseased refused fool, and at first appeared wholly
occupied in catching flies. In a few days the disorder car-
ried off !:ti of the dogs, when it was intimated that ribworth,
er rlb.grass, would prevent and cure the (theme. A table-
spoon-full .4 the juice was immediately administeted to each
dog, and repeated mornings and evenings, besides a good
deal chopped in their food ; and though some of them ap-
peared to have been infected, sit weeks have elapsed without
the loss of a single dog, all of whom appeav to lw pettedly
reestablished.