River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1886-07-15

Suction Cure for Hyerophobia.

In 1860, when in medical charge of
the station of Cuttaek, in Bengal,
willie sitting at breakfast. little Eng
lish terrier suddenly dashed across the
room from one of the corners and
seized my hand, putting tooth near
~ through one of my fingers, and hav
ing done this rushed out of the ROOM
This little dog was the fayorlte of all,
and | ut once concluded Chat il must
be mad TO have done what it did, and,
taking my knife out of my pocket, laid
my finger open where the tooth had en-
tered, and then when the lo0d flowed
sucked the wound and lat out the
blood. / also applied .S.ture to the
base of the finger and got some tepid
water. and putting my hand into it
made it bleed freely and continuously
and il when it had. as | thought, BLEED
sufficiently. bound up the wound.
did not Kill the dog. but had it caught
and safely secured, rs | was naturally
anxious for my own satisfaction, if
possible, to prove the dog was not mad.
All was in vain; kept the animal
alive for three days by dipping a
sponge in strong soup and then pre-
senting it to the dog, who seized it,
thus making him unintentionally swal
low the amount which he squeezed out
of the sponge by the bite. Now. in
this case there could not be a doubt
but the dog was mad when he bit me.
though, of course, 1t may be urged
that perhaps there was not enough
poisoned saliva to infect me, and every
case of recovery is open to this ques-
ton. But, judging from the appear
ance of the dog when caught, | am
satisfied that the promptness and
thorouhness with which | extracted the
poison was the means of saving my
life.
Another case occurred while | was
encamped in the Government BotaR-
ical Gardens Mt Saharupur The man
was raking under bush, when a
jackal rushed at him and sliced him
by the cheek, and, inilicting fearful
wound, ran off into the gardens. The
cry of mad iackal' was raised, and
the gardeners soon finished him, as he
had apparently lain down under the
bush 10 die when disturbed by the
rake. and was so weakened that he
was soon run down and killed. When
saw INT animal Autit GONlAtl bt III
doubt of this oeing a case of HYDRO
phObia in the last stage, and when the
man was bitten The poisond saliva must
have been in large quantities on the
animals mouth and lips. The wound
had a dreadful appearance, and il
seemed hopeless to think of removing
all the virus. first of all washed the
cheek and wound With tepid water,
and then with a knife from my pocket.
ease made the parts bleed freely where
ever the teeth had entered, and by
means of a tumbler and little spirits
of wine eXtemporiZed a cuppin9-glass.
There was. however, a spot where this
mode of extraction could not be APP
piled, and felt nothing but the mouth
could extract the poison here.
Immediately the man was brought
to my tent and had seen him, asked
him if he had any relatives in the gar
dens, and on being told he had brother
| sent for him at once. When he came
after examining his mouth and lips to
see if they were free from conditions
likely to favor absorption of the poi
son, | pointed out to him how he
might hope to save his brothers life
viz: by sucking out the poison in the
part where | conld not apply the eX
temporized cupping-glass. lie ut once
put his mouth TO the wound and suck
ed it freely. When | thought he lad
removed all the poison, dressed the
wound in the usual way and it healed
quickly. IS n precaution after each
suction of the wound and splitting out
the blood, | made the man thoroughly
rinse his mouth with topid water
heard of both these men years after,
and was told they neither Of them ever
suffered in the least, either from the
bite or the suction of the wound. In
this case used neither caHstic nor the
cautcry, as | felt to be eilec,ually APP
piled they would almost certainly lead
to the s'Oughing of the cheek The
result IF the suction proved that il was
most successful and simple. .SUrqeon-
Hajor Il. PriHgie IN LoHdon Lancet.