The republic., 1851-01-04
HYdrOphObin.

We find the following among the miscella-
neous selections Of the Charleston (S. c. .Ner-
curry If it is an authentic statement, and NJ
BUIssoN is person worthy of credence, the in
formation which it discloses is of grave impor-
tance, not only to the medical faculty, but to
the whole human family. That the Academy
of Sciences should have treated it with disre-
gard so long is, perhaps, attributable To its hav-
ing been anonymously communicated
an Busson has written to the Paris Academy
of Sciences, TO claim his small treatise on hy
drophobia, addressed to the Academy so far back
as 1885, and signed with single initial. The
| referred to in that treaty was his own. The partc-
ulars aud the mode of cure adopted follows
He 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
throat, inability to swallow, abundant secretion Of
saliva, and foaming at the mouth Her neighbors
said she had been bitten by mad dog, about forty
days before. At her own urgent entreaties she was
bed, and died lew hours AFTER as was expected.
''M Buisson, who had his hands covered with
blood, incautiously cleansed them with towel
which had been used to wipe the mouth Of the pa
tient. lie then had an liberation upon one of his
fingers, yot thought it sufficient to wipe off the sail
va that adhered with little water. The ninth day,
after being in his cabriolet, he suddenly seized
with pain In his throat, and still greater In
his eyes The saliva was continually pouring into
his mouth; the impression of a current of air. the
sight of brilliant bodies, gave him painful sensa
ton; his body appeared to him so light that he felt
as though he could leap to prodigious height. He
experienced, he said, wish To run and bite, not
men, but animals and nanimate bodies Finally,
he drank with difficulty, and the sight of water was
at1 fhu,,
throat. These symptoms recurred every five min
utes, and it appeared to him though the pain
commenced in the affected finger and extended
thence to the shoulder.
"From the whole of the symptoms, he judged
himssf afflicted with hydrophobia, and resolved
terminate his life by sitting himself in vapor bath
Having entered one for this purpose, he caused the
heat to be raised to one hundred and seventy de-
gress thirty minutes Fahrenheit, when he was
equally surprised and delighted to find hInselffree
of all complaint. He left the bathing room well,
dined heartily, and drank more than usual Since
that time he says, he has treated in the
ner more than eighty persons bitten, in four of
whom the symptoms had declared themselves; and
in has he failed except 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 (com-
monty called Russian,) } and should induce every
night violent perspration, by wrapping himself
in fannels, and covering himself with feather
bed; the perspiraton is favored by drinking freely
of "a warm decoction of sarsaparilla. He declares
SO convinced is he of the efficacy of his mode of
treatment, that he will suffer himself to be inocu-
lated with the disease. AS proof OF the utility of
copious and continual perspiration, he relates the
following anecdote: relative of the musician
Gretry was bitten by mad dog, at the same time
with many other persons, who all died of hydro
phobia For his part, feeling the first symptoms
of the disease, he took to dancing night and day,
saying that he wished to die gaiy. He recovered.
M. Busson also cites the old stories of dancing be-
ing remedy for the bite of tarantula; and draws
attention to the fact that the animals in which this
madness Ia most frequently found to develope itself
spontaneously dogs, wolves, and foxes, which
never perspire."