The Sun.
London, England, 1834-10-24 00:00:00

EXTRAORDINARY CASE OF HYDROPHOBIA

FROM THE BITE OF A CAT.

A man was admitted, on Monday, October 20,
into Charing-cross Hospital, under the care of the
physicians of that hospital, labouring under symptoms
of hydrophobic disease. It appeared, upon examina-
tion, that the patient, who appeared to be of the age
of thirty-five, was accustomed to sell apples and gin-
ger-beer in the New English Opera House. About
two months ago, he was assisting some others in en-
deavouring to drive a cat out of the house, when the
animal flew at him, and bit his hand. The injury
was but slight, and, after a little inflammation, it
completely healed. On Sunday, as he was seated at
table with his wife, he experienced a singular sensation
in his throat, accompanied with an inability to swallow.
These symptoms increasing in violence, he became
alarmed, and applied for admittance into Charing-
cross Hospital. .The physicians, when they became
acquainted with the particulars, pronounced the case to
be one of decided hydrophobia, and he was accordingly
admitted, and placed in a ward by himself. His symp-
toms were, a spasmodic condition of the pharynx, trachea,
and diaphragm. He had also a dread of liquids. When
he attempted to drink, and the liquid approached his
lips, he experienced a sudden, convulsive sob, or catch
in the breath, with a momentary sensation of choking.
The physician asked him to place his hand in some
water, which he attempted to do, and a violent spas-
modic attack immediately followed. The man had no
idea of the disease under which he was labouring, and
it was thought advisable not to make him acquainted
with the fact, fearing that it might aggravate his symp-
toms, and accelerate his death. The first thing that
was administered was strychnia, the extract of nux
vomica. This is a very powerful medicine, which has
a peculiar action on the nervous system. Dr. Chris-
tian observes, in his treatise on poisons, that, " except
the prussic acid, no poison is endowed with such de-
structive energy as strychnia. I have killed a dog in
two minutes, with a sixth part of a grain, injected in
the form of alcohalic solution, into the chest. I have
seen a wild boar killed in the same manner, with a
third of a grain, in ten minutes ; and there is little
doubt that half a grain thereof into a wound might
kill a man in less than a quarter of an hour. It
acts, in whatever way it is introduced into the
system, but most energetically when injected into
a vein." An eighth part of a grain of strych-
nia was given. After he had taken two doses, it had
a marked effect on his nervoils system ; but the spasms
were not allayed. Mr. Pettigrew then suggested to-
bacco injections, as he had found this produce some
relief in a similar case of hydrophobia, which was un-
der his care some years ago. This was accordingly
tried, but without producing any beneficial result.
So astonishingly did these injections reduce the vital
powers, that when I saw the patient on Wednesday, at
twelve o'clock, I could not perceive any pulsation pit
the wrist. The poor man appeared at times tincon,
scions of those around him. There was to have been
a meeting of the medical officers of the establishment

The herring fishery is prosecuted at three great sta-
tions—the East Coast of Scotland,. the West, and the
Isle of Man. The first stretches from -Thurso to Pe-
terhead, and includes the Orkneyand Shetland Islands ;
the second extends from Cape. Wrath to the Mull of
Kintyre, and comprises we know not how many rami-
fications of lochs, friths, estuaries, and bays ; while
Man, as Virgil said of Britain, is a kingdom within
itself, divided from all the world beside. On the-east
coast, which is by far the greatest. general Station„ope-
rations commenced on or about the 2Qth. July.. Salt
and barrels were provided in abundance.; of boats and
nettage there was no lack ; contractors were ready .to
make advances, and the spirits of the men biloyant and
high ; and yet daYafter day, and week on week, elapsed,
without bringing tidings of tie '646clea'sheats; Te-
dium ensiled, and its usual concomitants ;* speculators
%fought shy; the' Banks' becameinteasy, -and sou lit ad-
vice .from head-quarters ; sand such, in -Wick especially,
Was the general- distress, that the neighbouring- farmers
were forced to watch their potatoes, to prevent them•
from being 'carried off and eaten in i:a-balf-ripe-sfate.
Oatmeal. was retailed..in pounds at a.-time, and.-before
tall was over many hardy fishermen, who had. come far
~and fared most
:miserably, were compelled:to pawn their
nets as security foi the-price of 'their. lodgnigs.: At
this `point the. fishing,in place of 200, barely netted 30
reams . per . boat.. Sarelet, Falligo,.. Clyth,%. Lybster,
Leatheron-wbeel, -and , pun,b.eatlr,- did- still worse-7-0i
averages being little more than from 7 to 10 crans.
In Ross-shire the failure was equally conspicuous ;
and even at Portmahomack the aggregate fishing hardly
exceeded 10 or 12 crans for each distinct crew. At
Ballintore the result was equally disheartening, and the
same remark applies to Cromarty, Brough-head,- Find-
horn, and Buckie. The Banff, Fraserburgh, and Pe-
terhead boatmen were more fortunate ;
.but, although
they did well as compared with others, the take was
far under an average fishing. In Orkney the crews,
by dint of perseverance, obtained about 50 Crafts each
—a circumstance we are glad of, for the sake of per-
sons who may be said to draw their 'chief means of
subsistence from troubled waters, where, (luring a great
part of the year, Tennant's fine expression is strikingly
realised, " breaks the long wave that at the pole began."
In Shetland, where the herring fishery is Of recent Ori-
gin, the take was greater than was ever known before,
and the people generally are so well pleased with their
good luck, that they intend to redouble their exertions
against.. another season. Upon the whole, however,
on the east coast, the herrings' cared will not exceed a
fourth of the usual quantity—a failure to be deplored
under any circumstances, and the more so when we
consider how many hearths the binn and the barrel
help to gladden. The poor man's greatest bread crop
has rarely been better in quality, or more abundant, and
it is sad to think that he will be denied the humble luxury
of the cheapest kind of fish to kitchen his potatoes: But
the fishermen themselves will be the greatest sufferers.
While the farmer tills and reaps the land, it is their
lot to plough and reap the deep ; some of them who
have no other resource, trust to the nets for the payment
of pendicle and cottage rents, and when a bad harvest
occurs, the consequences are terrible to many a family.
A boat manned by four men, with suitable cordage and
a spare net, costs as near as may be 2101.; and when a
capital of this kind yields no return, and must lye as
dead stock for the next ten months, the owners' pros-
pects are pitiable in the extreme. Even the slaves in
the Westlndies will desiderate their wonted rations
of herrings, and must trust to the banks of Newfound-
land for food rather than the rocky coasts' that environ
our isle. From the same cause the coasting trade, in
various parts of Scotland, has received a blow from
which it may not speedily recover. Carrying salt and
staves, and exchanging these articles for a cargo of
fins, forms a great trade in Spring and Autumn ; but
from the quantities of both accumulated at the stations,
the fresh supplies needed will be trifling next v,;;ar,
however promising may be the appearance of
consequence of this hundreds of vess‘,!,l.s will be par-
tially thrown out of emplo
channels of trade,Ynnit, or forced into new
which, in too many cases, it is easy
to seek but diffieli):‘ to find. For long the traffic be-
tween the
and the North was a certain and good
one f:,-;i• vessels of a certain tonnage or class ; and here
we have a fresh proof that the trading interests of such
a country as ours are so dove-tailed and connected,
that the slightest disruption in a .particular
.quarter
affects more or less the prosperity and stability of the
whole fabric.

On the West Coast, indented as it is with lochs, es-
tuaries, and bays, the fishing proved any thing but a
remunerating concern. In the early part of the season
a modicum of fish was caught at Scalpa and Portree ;
but latterly all engaged in the traffic were placed in the,
sad predicament of those who let down buckets into
empty wells, and spend their days in drawing no water:
Many vessels that were out three months have re-
turned with empty casks, or perhaps with a very few
of them filled. In the Frith of Clyde matters were:
rather better. In July and August the shoals we re
considerable ; but the quantities then caught -,vent
either run fresh or salted, and sold so quickly th.at they
are now out of the market. Indeed, the general
scarcity of west Highland fish is best indexed by the
price they bear—and which, in a few weeks, rose from
20s. to 50s. per barrel. From Ayr to the Nith or
Annan such persons as engage iZ the herring trade
send out vessels and buy from the boatmen ; and what
is rather odd, most of them have returned with bumper
cargoes, and bringgood accounts of such of their
neighbours as still lingered at the different stations.
In the Isle of Man the herrings were so late and
tardy in showing themselves, that some of the curers
left the place in despair. But they came at last, and
in greater shoals than have been witnessed since the
year 1823. In Man, the winged tribes are the fisher-
man's pioneers, and the moment they gave the signal
()Teat was the bustle and the booty caught. What the
value may be we are unable to state ; but in the year
alluded to, about 21,000 barrels were cured at Peel,
and round the coast, independently of 12,000 ditto,
that were consumed on the spot, or run fresh to Liver-
pool, without the slightest deterioration of quality.
The estimated value, bounty included, amounted to
.50,0001. sterling—a mighty item, certainly, as com-
pared with the limits and population of Mona, and
which, from the peculiar channels in which it flowed,
may be described as money lost by no one—and yet
found.—Dumfries Courier.

DREADFUL ACCIDENT. Yesterday morning,
between 7 and 8 o'clock, a dreadful accident occurred to Mary
Higgins, a remarkably fine young woman, between 19 and 20
years of age, servant in the employ of Mr. M'Pherson, a gen-
tleman residing in Lisson-grove, St. Marylehone. It appears
from the statement of the unfortunate young creature, that she
was busily engaged in brewing, when, in the act of conveying
a large pail of scalding liquor, with the hops in it, for the pur-
pose of passing the liquor into a cooler, she unfortunately.fell,.
and was precipitated head foremost into the boiling liquid,
the hops adhering to her head, face, and neck. The piteous ' i
screams of the poor sufferer brought immediate assist ante to
her relief. On taking her dress off, the skin followed froin
off the neck. A coach was immediately procured, and she l'
was conveyed in it with all possible speed to the hospital, en-
during the most excruciating agony.
THE SPEECH PRINTERk.;—WheII notice of the ~
burning of the two Houses of Parliament arrived on. Saturday,
it was at once seen that it would be " an excellent Spec,for
the speech-Crier's," bat how td eke out the extremely laconic
announcement of the disaster seemed ,a poser, -.This difficulty .
ad not been well thought of when out came two very ingenious
t' full, true, and particular accounts," ode of which was titled -
bus-" Burning of Parlicpnent,"--theu followed the morsel,
f news which was written on the back of the Glasgow Way
Sill, viz,. 4, The. Hou§e.of Lords. and the- House of Comrrions ..
re all on fire this night at eight o'clock," and concluding with,
he fine new song of " I'll hae a 'sae o' my ain." The other
ocumcnt of a rival .'establishment introduces• the; affair'as- fol- -
ws :—" An account of the House of Lords and Commons. „.
nig all on fire on Thursday when the Mill left the Capitai. "
f Laxdou," and .concludes with "two most beautiful love -
lietters never before published." The police interdicted the
laie Of these' specimens' of literary ingenuity, but for what '
cause we have yet to learn.—Glasgow Herald.