The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1851-01-08

L
ten to the Paris Academy of Sciences, 10
claim as hs a small treatise OH hydropbo.
bia, addressed to tho Academy so far back
as 1885, and signed with a single initial.
The case referred to in that treatise was
his own. The particulars and the. mode
of cure adopted were as follows. He, had
been called to visit woman who, for thxee
days, was said 10 be suffering under Mis-
disease. She. had the usual symptoms,
construction Of the throat, inability to swal
low abundant secretion of saliva, and
foaming at the mouth. Berneighbors said
she bad beeen bitten by a mad dog, a''cut
fortyidays belores At her own urgent en-.
treafies. sbsWas blcd and died few lo.-.
aftek as&as expected.
NJ. eBuisson who had his hands covered
with blood incautiously cleansed them with
atowel which had been used to wipe the
mouth OF the patient. He then had an ul-
ceration upon one of his fingers, yet
thought il sufficient to wipe off the saliva
that adhered, with little water. The
ninth day, after being in his cabr;olct, he
was suddenly seized with pain in his
throat and one still greater in his eyes
The saliva was constinual!y pouring into
his mouth; the impression Of current of
air, the sight Of brilliant bodies, gave him a
painful sensation; his body appeared to hin
so light that he felt as though lie could
leap to prodigious height He expericn-
ccd, he said, wish TO run and oite, not
men but animals and inanimate bodies
Finally he drank with difficulty, and the
sight Of water was still more distressing to
him than the pain in the throat. These
symptoms rccnrred every FIVE minutes, and
it appeared to him as though the pain com
menced in the affected finger and extended
thence to the shoulder.
From the whole Of the symptoms, he
judged himself afflicted with hydropllohia,
and resolved to terminate his life by sitting
himself in vapor bath. Having entered
.one for this purpose, he caused the heat TO
DO raised to ITO degrees, 80 minutes Fa-
rcnheit, when he was equally surprised
and delighted to find himself free uf all
complaint. He left tho bathing room well,
dined heartily, and drank more than usual
Since thattime, he says, he has treated in
the same manner mora than eighty persons
bitten, in four of whom rha symptoms had
declared themselves; and in no case has he
Jailed, except in that of ono child, seven
years oid,wilo died in-@the bath. The
mode Of treatment he recommends is that
the person bit should take certain num-
beroi vapor baths, Commonly called Russi-
ans,) and should induce every night a .vio-
lent perspraton, by wrapping himself in
flannsls, and covering himself with featli-
er bed; the perspiration is favored by drink
ing freely ofa warm decoc,ion of sarsapa-
rila. He declares, so convinced is he Of
the efficacy Of his moGe of treatment, that
he will suffer himselft to be inoculated with
the disease. AS proof of the utility of
copious and continual perspraiion,a he re-
lates the following anecd0tc: "A relative
OF the musician Grelry was bitten by a
mad dog, at the same time with many 9TH
or persons, who all died of hydrophobia.--
For his part, feeling the first symptoms of
the disease, ho took to dancing nigh. and
day, saying that lic wished to die gaiIy.--
He recovered. NJ. Buisson also cites The
old stories of dancing being remedy Tor
the bite OF a tarantula; and draws attention
to the fact that the animals in which this
madness is most frequently found to devel-
ope itself spontaneously are dogs, wolves
and foxes, which neverpcrspire.