The Sun.
London, England, 1834-11-04 00:00:00

CASE OF BITE OF A RABID CAT.

We attended, on Saturday, a clinical lecture delivered by
Dr. Golding, at the Charing-cross Hospital, detailing the
particulars of the melancholy and affecting case of the poor
fellow who was bitten in the hand by a rabid cat, at the
English Opera House, and who died and was dissected in
the hospital last month. As the case is one of the highest
moment relative to a disease which has as yet baffled all the
efforts of the most experienced practitioners, we this day
give a brief outline of Dr. Golding's lecture :
On Saturday, Dr. Golding gave a Clinical lecture upon
this case to the gentlemen attending the medical classes at
the Charing-cross Hospital.
Before detailing the symptoms, progress, and result of
the case alluded to, and the appearances which presented
themselves upon a post mortem examination, he entered into
a review of the opinions hitherto entertained of this fright-
ful affection, and the various plans of treatment had re-
course to by the most celebrated of the medical profession,
English and continental, for its relief. The result of this
deduction was, that every remedy that had been attempted
had proved entirely unavailing, and that the nature of the
malady was still involved in mystery.
Dr. Golding, from the result of his own observations,
regarded it as a peculiar affection of the nervous system,
arising from a specific stimulus contained in the malignant
virus, and thought that the only preventive would be the
excision of the parts : and that, however desirable this
might be, directly the injury had s been received from the
bite of the animal, yet, as the virus seemed to remain
inert for a longer or a shorter period, he considered that
excision would probably be successful at any time before
the hydrophobic symptoms had actually commenced, which
rarely happened before three or four weeks, or as many
months, and sometimes not until one or two years after the
infliction of the injury had elapsed.
But when the characteristic symptoms should ensue, he
deemed any operation of the kind not only useless, but an
unnecessary addition to the patient's misery. As one proof
of it, a boy suffering from hydrophobia, in consequence of
being bitten in the hand, had his arm amputated at one of
the metropolitan hospitals, but it did not in any degree
arrest the progress of the disease.
It appears from Dr. Golding's description of the case of
the poor man who was received into the Charing-cross Hos-
pital, that he was bitten by a rabid cat in the hand, at the
English Opera-house, about five or six weeks before the
symptoms of the case became manifest.; and that, although
be was able to continue his daily avocations, be never was
entirely free from pain in the bitten part.
The symptoms commenced with rheumatic feelings about
the back, a tingling sensation in the parts bitten, a numbness
of the fingers, and shooting pains up the left arm. Soon he
felt a tightness at the pit of the stomach, spasms in the
throat, and catching in the breath, when he attempted to
speak ; an aversion to the sight and feeling of fluids, and the
most distressing convulsive action of the muscles of the
throat when anything was offered to him to drink : he found
it. impossible to swallow his coffee at breakfast, although he
could, with some effort, get down solids.

To sip any thing into his mouth, and to take a pinch of
snuff, were alike impossible ; but one of the most remark-
able circumstances in his case was an extreme susceptibility
to the action of the air upon his body.
The smallest current of air, even moving of the bed-
clothes, induced the most agonizing distress • the slightest
breath upon his face occasioned indescribable horror, and
convulsive gasping for breath, like that manifested by a per-
son upon being suddenly immersed in water.
He spat violently and constantly, large quantities .of
saliva and phlegm ; and, fancying that something was stick-
ing in his throat, made the . most vehement efforts to dis-
lodge the cause of irritation.
His reason continued unimpaired till the latest moment
of existence, and within a few moments of his death be
talked sensibly and cheerfully, and expressed himself as
feeling better.
Two very powerful remedies, pills composed of strychnia,
and afterwards tobacco in the form of enema, were em-
ployed by the concurrent wishes of all the professional
officers at the hospital, who met in full consultation upon
the case ; but these were, like all former remedies, entirely
useless, and the poor fellow breathed his last after he had
been in the hospital about thirty hours.
The examination of the case after death brought to view
several morbid appearances, chiefly in the wind-pipe and
the stomach ; but these bore no proportion to the violence
of the symptoms and the intensity of the patient's suffer-
ings, and they are regarded as throwing but little light upon
the peculiar nature of this extraordinary disease, which the
lecturer thought must still be considered as perfectly un-
known, as the remedial means hitherto adopted for its cure
bad been unsuccessful.
Dr. Golding drew some useful practical deductions from
the case. He stated that further observations were yet
necessary to elucidate the peculiar operations of the rabid
rims in the animal frame, and concluded with an anxious
hope, in which every friend of humanity must unite with
him and with the professors of the healing art, that medicine
has yet in store some remedy for this horrible disease.