Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1886-09-01
BITTEN BY DOGS.
Hydrophobia Prevented by Suctlon-Som
Interesting Cases in Indla.

Iu 1860, when in medical charge Of
the station of Cuttack, in Bengal, while
sitting at breakfast little English ter
rier suddenly dashed across the room
from one of the corners and seized my
hand, putting . tooth nearly through
one of my fingers, and having done this
rushed out of the room. This little dog
was the favoRitc of all, and / at once
concluded that it must be mad to have
done what it did. and, taking my knife
out of my pocket, laid my finger open
were the tooth had entered, and then
when the blood flowed sucked the
wound and spat out the blood. ! also
applied ligature to the base of the fin
ger and got some tepid water. and put
ting my hand into it made it bleed free
ly and continuously, and then when il
had, as | thought. bled sufficiently,
bound up the wound. / did not kill
the dog. but had it caught and safely
secured, as | was naturally anxious 10
prove the dog was not mad. All was
in vain; l kept the animal alive for
three days by dipping q sponge in
strong soup aud then presenting it to
the dog, who seized it, thus making
him unintentionally swallow the amount
which he squeezed out of the sponge by
the bite Now, in this case there could
not be doubt that tho dog was mad
when it bit me, though, of course it may
be urged that perhaps there was not
enough poisoned saliva to infect me,
and every case of recovery is open to
this question. But. judging from the
appearance of the dog when caught, /
am satisfied that the promptness and
thoroughness with which / extracted
the poison was the means of saving my
life.
Another case occurred while l was
encamped in the Government Botonical
Gardens at Saharupur. The man was
raking under a bush, when n iackal
rushed at him and seized him by the
cheek, and, inflicting fearful wound,
ran off into the gardens. The cry Of
mad jackaP' was raised. and tho gar
deners soon finished him, as he hxd APP
parently lain down under the brush to
die when disturbed by the rake, and was
50 weakened that he was soon run down
and killed. When saw the animal
there could be no doubt of this being
case of hydrophobia in the last stage,
and when the man was bitten the
poisoned saliva must have been in large
quantities on the animals mouth and
lips. The wound had dreadful ap-
pearance, and it seemed hopeless 10
think of removing the virus. | first OF
all washed the cheek and wound with
tepid water, and then with a knife from
my pocket-case made the parts bleed
freely wherever the teeth had entered.
and by means of n tumbler and little
spirits OF wine extemporized cupping-
glass. There was, however, spot where
this mode Of extraction could not be APP
piled, and felt nothing but the mouth
could extract the poison here. Imme-
diately the man was brought to my tent
and had seen him, asked if he had
any relatives in the gardens, and on be-
ing told he had o brother | sent for
him at once. When he came. after ex-
amining his mouth and lips to see If
they were free from conditions likely to
favor absorption of the poison, point
ed out to him how he might hope to
save his brothers life-viz.: by sucking
out the poison in the part where could
not apply the extemporjzed cupping-
glass. He at once put his mouth to the
wound and sucked it freely When
thought he had removed ali the poison
l dressed the wound in the usual way
and it healed quickly. As precaution
after each suction of the wound and
splitting out OF the blood, / made the
man thoroughly rinse his mouth with
tepid water. heard Of both these men
years after, and was told they neither Of
them ever suffered in tho least either
from the bite or the suction of the
wound. In this case used neither
caustic nor the cautery. as felt to be
effectually applied they would almost
certainly lead to the sloughing of the
cheek. The result of the suction proved
that it was most successful and simple.
- Surgeon-Myor II. Primgle in London
Lancet