Independent Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1842-1844, 1844-01-27

racter.
There are many errors prevalent con
corning this disease. The very circum
lance IRON which il takes its name is an
error 81 far from being afraid of water,
they will often drink and sometimes swim
creeks and rivers. 1t has long been sup
posed b, the crowd, that the disease would
show itself nine days after the bite, or in
some particular time, but medical men
have known better since the days OF Ga
len, who says the poison viii often lie dor.
mant six or seven months, others say it
has been known 10 be quiescent tor as
| many years. We believe medical writers
are agreed that the disease is t. purelyner-
vous one, that the absorben's do not take
up The poison, and that the commence
ment of The disease will depend on the
distance of the wound from the brain. AS
il may be interesting to some readers at
this time, we subjoin the following symp-
toms of the disease in the canine species
from Thomas practice:
"Rabies in dog is attended with the
following appearances:-he generally
shows some marked deviation from his
accustomed habits. In those which are
domestcated, as lap-dogs, some strange
pecularities have been observed as the
picking up Of the different little objects
presented to their notice, such as paper,
thread, straw, &c.
In this stage they observe the usual
obedience to their master, and seldom at
tack any person, unless irritated TO it.
However they are extremity irritable and
always treacherous, suffering any one TO
fondle them but suddenly snap and bite
without the leas provocation. In the pro-
gress of the disease his eyes become in
famed, insted of barking he often makes a
dismal howl and has usually lis,less and
melancholy appearance"
GAS rabies advances the animal be.
comes extreamly anxious and impatient
and mas an inordinate desire to gnaw eve
ry thing around him."
We saw, a few DAYS since, an anecdote Of
a magnetizer, who proposed to ans wer any
question whatever, being sadly puzzled by
wag who enquirel what it cost t. spas
ture" Nebucadnezzlr for a week, during
the days when he 'did eat grass as oxen"
This diiiculi question would have been
quite pertinent il it had been first ascer-
aimed thai the king of Babylon ever was
''paSturcd." 1t is probable that bis was a
case oil aggravated melancholy, brought on
by remorse Of conscience for having cast
the three Jews into the fiery furnace, be-
sides many other ieatsof a similar klnd.-
During the progress of his disease he fanci-
ed himself an OK, Circumstance not at all
improbable with one afflicted with that par.
tlal madness called hypochondria. lnnu-
merable instances of the kind are related
in medical authors, ancient and m dern.
There is species of the disease called
wolf-madness, the persons subject to which
60 bowling up and down. Pllny mikes
the assertion, that some men in his day
were turned into wolves and from wolves
into men again, which can only be accoun-
ted Tor on the hypothesis aforementioned.
Instances are told of others becoming fas-
cinated with the habits and bearing of the
amable and agreeable bruin, and Hippoc-
rates mentions that the daughters Of king
PrGtus thought themselves kline, a case
somewhat similar to that OF the Babyloni-
an. The "Book' does not say that he be-
came an OK, but that he seat grass like
oxen," and it does not say that he eat moth
ing but grass, which leaves US TO infer that
he only amused himself that way some
times, and by no means did regular bu-
siness of the kind. This is what makes
the question diff 'u't; we leave its solution
to the schoolmen who once disputed how
many devils could stind on the point of a
needle.
SOMETHING ABOUT KUsIC"--Is the Ii.
tie of an article in Blackwood, and some
thing about music is to be found in the
columns of all the papers IN the large COM
mercIal cities Of the union. A riot. Vienx.