The Sun.
London, England, 1808-02-08 00:00:00

HYDROPHOBIA.

17Thc subjee of 1-I,DROtitOSIA is so Interesting 113 mankind,
' that we will nlly give insertion to the ti►lluwing I.cttet,
and shall as readily admit any think that Dr. !Opal:La?
may think row to sax in answer tv it, or the corniniaii.
tatton of any other intelligent Correspondent.)

EDITOR',
At this distattce from the great metropolis, we
must, of course, have very inadequate notions of the
refinements in Newspaper management; and of the

views of ingenious Correspondents. Strange re-
ports are current, But it is in to suppose
that you will allow your publica,tion to be ;I.e
vehicle of erroneous or iritercited ioils cot:-

earning- the treatment of so frightfill a nialatly as b. -
drophobia. On this presumption, I Venture to
'affirm' that Dr. Mosat.zr, ozr his own chewing, in
your Paper of January pli,. is not entitled to the cre7
dit which he claims froth your numerous Readers.
The Doctor's historical assertions are palpably
neous ; his judgment as to the nature of the disorder.
more than doubtful ' • prglice au itutation of
t'..at which ,bas_ failed in five 'hundred previous in-

stances; and, his division of the stages of thediseasi
frivolous and false. I proceed to prove these points
With all possible hi, vity. •
.. . . . „ .. .
The DoaOr says that his is the first core of hydro.
phObia.on record. Nov,v' Sir, the hue respettable
Dr. NUGENT, of Bath, . published one cure in a
well-known treatise; the. present Dr,
,A.alloLD, of
Leicester, another; Dr.RoanaT BeirroN, of , Vir-
ginia, a third; not to _cite, any in riin.:ign languago.
it is true that the Iwo former Writcra. have 4ten sup.

posed to mistake song" ot }Kg. fk,r hydrophobia; '
and Dr. BURTON hate-6V41, cll,O get! by-Dr. hanDosi;,

a late work on ft:ver, w;!Ir ;he sine error. Dr.

MOSBLEY Will join the sceptic: 'no 4.l6tifrt ; but hits
scepticism will recoil ith tentbla •force upon bit'
own head ; for the conscqueuccs of the wound, the
time at which the atithiou of' the constitution arose,

and the whole series of pheneinetia, are very obvi-
ously differeut in his report from those which take
place in hydrOphobia.• The paio at the moment,
which Dr. Moseecr ridicelouslyascribea to the viru,
lence of the poison, the aff;:eion of the arm from
the bitten fingers up to the clbew, the livid appearr
ance said to come and go, are all fure;g-ii to the tiff
feels of the bite-of mad animals; and' rile whole, 101
also the general disorder, more probably referable to
mechanical irritatiou, as every surgeon will perceive.
The time between the injury and the commence-
ment of the Doetor's pompously detailed operations
ismuch•shorter than between a bite from a mad dug
and hydrophobia. In scarce any authentic example
is this under thrediweeks, and 4U days is near the
average; whereas, Mrs. H. I.,scAzu was seized on
"the 13th day after the bite, a Very cennuon period
in case of :a ,mechanically irritated wound. pr.. M.
says, that his patient was salivated witbia 4B hours:*
Dr. BUitTOTed patient, after`much bleeding, began
to rub in mercury, on the 7th of July, 1803, and
had sore gums on the vh, and'ho the 1511 was
well. .T,ba,,treatment with mercury has becu in toll
use-for ..5o year's; without tile,-sinaliest.heriefir iii Ptak
of 4 •11-Litptalitraird.`calii: c4lll),lroiihobia, tlictigh often
resorted to on the very first 'a ppearatiZm ILIT..Mos
LEY'S camphor julep, 'with his tea-spuunlui of sal so-
pewder, is rice U a ,composi,
• Lion, to think about tor a moment, Trh: iniscloef„
promulgating stories of this nature among common
readers is depriving future sealers .of all chance
from varied . trials; for the- friends aini relatiees
will ,all quote Dr. M05e44,0116.,,r0e inediCal map,
though convinced-of the inutility of salivition,..N;vill
yield to, their impartueity, because-be, can promise
nothing from a plan lees fully disproved by exCe-
, rience. To excite salivation in a short time is no
great medical feat ; but the patient will die ; and
perhaps it/will be thought all for want of suing to
Albany, iis•Dr. M. mentions-of Mrs. H. LascAza, for
the direction, as I
.spppoiti,, of other invalids.
Dr. MOSELEY, perhaps to evade the objeQion
from expeelence against the use of mercury, divides
the constitutional disease into three stages 1. Dread
of liquids.. 2.. Difficulty. (or impossibility) of swal-
lowing. IL Rabies. Now, Sir, this is really put-
ting the cart before the horse with a witness--aye
with panty a score of witnesses ; fur, in the great
.rnajority of well observed caseS, she difficulty of
swallowing has preceded, and most probably caused,
the dread of 'liquids. Thus, in a Report froth a So-
ciety for the improvemeot 91 medical knowledge,
founded by Mr. J. HUNTER, Dr. Geoitcu FORDYCit,
and others, it is.stated, upon the authority of a vast
mass of infarmation, . that the difficulty of swallow•
ing liqUiCis is‘‘ generally, discovered accidentally, 04
attempting todrink ; and after a few trials is accom-
panied with such horrible sensations, that army thing
which afterwards' recalls to the mind even the idea
of drinking, excites violent agitation and inexpressi-
ble aversion."--,See Vol. 1.. p. 30ti.
I um reao at a loss to, guess whether it was sheer
ignorance or,boldness which attempted to set up the
centrary .as the law of the disease.
',think it proper to be ;is concise as possible, for
;natty other objettions occur ; and if Dr. MositeeT
chooses, to discuss the subjed farther, I am at his ser-
vice, provided both parties, are alleWed woo;
though simply •