The Columbia Democrat. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1837-1850, 1839-07-27
CURE FOR HYDRopHoBlA.

OOlNL ON DlbOb AAOb1hs
Nj. Buisson, physician at Paris, in
recent publication, gives the following ac-
count of his experience of hydrophobia |
and his mode of cure :--"M. Buisson had |
been called to visit woman, who for three
days was said to be suffering under this
disease. She had the usual symptoms
construction of the the throat, inability TO
swallow, abundant secretion Of saliva, and
foaming at the mouth. Her neighbors said
she had been bitten by mad dog about for
ty days before. At her own urgent entieat-
les, she was bled and died few hours after,
as we expected. M. Buisson, who had
his hands covered with blood, incautiously
cleaned them with towel which had been
used to wipe the mouth of the patient. He
then had an liberation upon one of his fin
gers, yet thought it sufficient to wash off
the saliva that adhered with a little water.
The ninth day after, being in his cabroet,
he was suddenly seized with pain in his
throat and one still greater in his eyes.
The saliva was constantly pouring into his
mouth; the impression of current OF air,
or the sight of brilliant bodies gave him
painful sensation. His body appeared to
leap 10 prodigious height. He experien-
ced, he said, wish TO run and bite-not
men, but animals and inanmate bodies.
Finally he drunk with difficulty, and the
sight of water was still more distressing to
him than the pain in his throat. These
symptoms recurred every five minutes, and
il appeared to him as though the pain COM
menced in his affected finger and extended
then up to the shoulder. From the whole
of the symptoms he judged himself affected
with hydrophobia, and resolved to terminate
his life by sitting himself in bath. Hav-
ing entered one for this purpose, he caused
the heat to be raised TO 1919 So Fahren-
het, when he was equally surprised and
delighted to find himself free of all COM
plaint.-He left the bathing room well,
dned heartily, and drank more than usual
Since that time he says,he has treated more
than eighty persons bitten, in four Of whom
the symptoms had declared themselves, and
in no case has he failed, but in that of one
child seven years old who died in the bath.
The mode of treatment he recommends is,
that the person bit should take a certain
number Of Vapor baths Commonly called
| huoSldH;J duu SllOulu lIluuCC GNSIy LlSnL d
violent pcrspiration by wrapping himselfin
flannel recovering himself with feather bed:
the perspiraton is favored by drinking free
ly Of warm decoction eff sarsaparilla. He
declares he is so convinced of the efficacy
of this mode Of treatment, that he will suf-
fer himself 10 be enoculaled with the dis
ease. AS proof Of the utility of cOpious
and continued respiration, he relates the
following anecdote "A relative of the nu-
aioian Crafty, hitian by mad dog al
the same time with many other persons,
who all died of hydrophobia. For his
part, feeling the fist symptoms of the dis
case, he took to dancing night and day,
saying that he wished to die gaily. He re-
covered. NJ. Buisson also cites the old sto-
ries of dancing being a remedy for the bite
of tarantula, and draws attention 10 the
fact that the animals in whom the madness
is more frequently fourd to develope itself
spontaneously are dogs, wolves and foxes,
which never perspire. This latter is very
extraordinary fact, horses and COWS have
been frequently bitten by mad dogs, and in
a very few cases have any of the symptoms
Of hydrophobia been manifested.