Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1871-01-05
(From the Balt;nsrs Sun.l
HYDRDPHuBIA.

+, HYDRDPHuBIA.
: Medical communication !. should. as
7 rule. be given to the pubic only through
:. medical journals, but rs the insportan
facts which am about b publish ma,
never reach those who are interested ex
cept through the columns of newspa
per, I take this method OF imparting then
without further apology, especially n
: tae universal popular ignorance on tn
subjeer is often pcrais...e Of fatal re
suits. q r.
notices Of several deaths by this most ter
: rible Of diseases, in which the fatal results
might have been easily avertea had the
simple facts which I here publish been
known to the sufferers or their friends -
have often reproached myself for not
having sooner made this communication
rot that the profession are ignorant of
what | publish, but that the public arc IA.
mentally 50.
The virus or poison which propagates
hyi-ophobia exists in the saliva of the
rabil animal 1t is not injected through
the tooth into the wound, as is the venom
Of the rattlesnakc. or as is the venom OF
the bee, through the sting. The pGson
merely bcsmears the tooth, as the lancet
Is coatci with The virus in vaccinating.
There is another very important distin-
gushing fact in regard to its effect on the
wounded part. 1t produces no irritation,
no immediate effect. Like the vaccine
virGs, or that Of the smallpox, it has a
certain period of incubation, or zymotic
process before the system becomes atEec-
ted. This period, in the production of
canine madness, is happily long, as com
F, pared with the period of incubation of
oIher poisons. The period varies, but it
is commonly about six weeks. and then,
before constitutional disease is developed.
= slight irritation occurs IL the scar, and
Il red list of inaamcd absorbents is seen
extending up the member. When these
phenomena takes place there is no hope !:
the constitutional symptoms follow inimc-
diatcly. But if, during the long period
which preccdes the local symptoms, the
proper remedies be employed, and especi,.
ally soon after the bite, the prevention OF
the disease is almost certain.
Contrary to the common belit, deep
wound inflicted BY the bite is less hseiy
t. be followed by hydrnr,hL~,--, :, tt@n Is .
sI;rh. scratch ling the skin, for =
go, H. ought to be obyious-;he CO.
n;ons cffusion Of blood washed away the
poison. ,nu-i Tow.
Some years ago R-e from tb-Asaitimcrc
a case of fatal hydrcpfiSia, which origi-
mated thus: Aboy was bitten deeply on
the check by pet dog which few at him
without provocation. The master Of the
/ dog struck the animal with his hand, and
received scratch on his hand the dog
ran of. and was never seen. The wound
in the boys cheek Llci freely, and in cor
sequence was washed freely. The scratch
on the mans hand was treated by an old
lady with salt. The man perishcd in six
weeks in the agcnies of hydrophobia.--
The boy escaped, though possibly because
| opened the scar ard cauterized it deep
|, ly, for possibly the poison might still be
incuhating there
When persons are bitten through cloth
ing, perhaps two garments, the poison
may be I'll wiped from the tooth, and the
bite prove innocuous, but net certainiy-
\ large majority, however, of those Bit
ten through clothing escape the diseasc
These are the eases in which ridiculous
nostrums unfortunately acquire reputation
for preventing the disease. it being gem
orally supposed that the bite of rabid
dog is necessarily followed by hydropho-
bia, unless some preventive remedy be
employed.
\ person in one Of the Northern States
once received a reward Of a thousand dol
lars for revealing the composition of a rem
edy which was believed to have cured or
prevented many cases Of hydrorhobia.
He had administered it to many persons
who had been bitten through clothing and
had never gone mad. They gave him
their honest certificates that they believed
themselves to have been cured of hydro
phebia. The composition of the nostrum
proved to be ''niue leaves Of sage. gath
cred in the night and the wane of the
moon, the marrow of dogs jaw, and the
false tongue of foal"
The use of such nestrum does no d.
rect harm. but confidence in il does fatal
mischief, because il precludes the use OF
rational preventives. There is no neigh
borhood in which there is not some old
woman who declares, and. perhaps. hon.
cstly believes. that she can prevent or cure
hydrophobia, and, perhaps. by the use o
her remedies the precious opportunity &
avert 50 terrible disease is lost, as nave
myself witnessed.
have been hundred times called upo-
: by persons bitten by dogs known not u
be rabil. but yet these persons were tor
tured by the apprehension that, shoulc
the dog that inflicted the bite ever z
: mad. they would themselves be afFecte,
with hvdrcphobia. This would be sim
: ply ridiculous were il not that 50. mani
: believe it. \ person might as well fea
having smallpox who had. Ave years ago
shaken hands with man who now ha
liz.
7, is the practical part Of this commu
. nication which is important. We canno
: cure this terrible disease when once de
velopei. II ;s true ;hat there often occu
in tire public prints. and sometimes i
5 medical journals, notices of eases cure
! BY certain powerful remedies. such q
{ chloroform. atropia. woorara, the canua
BIS, &c. But when these remedies hsv
been tried in other cases they have utter
ly failed.
Remedies acqnirc false reputation f.
Q the cure Of hyirophebia by being employ
cl IN spurious cases Of that disease. NeI