linseed, renewed every three hours, lest they should turn sour, and dress the wound with cold cream (Ceratum Galeni). I cause the patient to lie between two feather-beds, and make him drink three or four litres of a warm infusion of borage per day. I prescribe much exercise, and let him eat what he likes. Above all, I forbid his attendants to allude to the accident, lest his imagination should be affected. My treatment does not prevent cauterization-a very uncertain process, since all those labouring under the disease whom I have treated had been cauterized. If the disorder has declared itself, I only prescribe a single bath, and leave the patient in till the cure is effected, taking care to raise the temperature gradually. Hydrophobia may last three days; experience has proved to me that the cure is certain on the first day of the outbreak; on the second day it is uncertain, and on the third impossible, from the difficulty and danger there would be in conveying the patient into the bath, and keeping him in. Who would wait for the third day, knowing my treatment? Nor should one wait for the outbreak; it ought always to be prevented. Hydrophobia never breaks out before the seventh day, so that there is time enough to perform a long journey to obtain what is called a Russian vapour-bath.' Galignani's Messenger. Times, October 16, 1863. 6 Charles IX., in his Chasse Royale' says, that Saint Louis brought a pack of staghounds from Tartary; these were called "gris," and it was said that madness never attacked them. The number of persons who are seized by hydrophobia is very few in comparison with the number bitten by dogs in that state. It is perhaps owing to this fact, that many so-called remedies have had a temporary reputation. Immediate washing, and the prompt and thorough application of lunar caustic, is the best treatment. The cruel practice of "worming" is utterly ridiculous and useless, being no preventive whatever. Let us hope that this, as well as the perverted taste of mutilating dogs by cropping their ears and tails, may soon be abandoned altogether. It not merely impairs their usefulness, but renders them more subject to disease. The rare, but dreadful, disease of hydrophobia appears to arise principally from the selfishness and cruelty of mankind. Dogs bred and kept for fighting are most liable to it, and the most dangerous when attacked by the delirium. The unnatural slavery of chaining up these creatures, so passionately fond of liberty, (coercing them as we did the human maniac ere the age of the illustrious Pinel), may also have a great deal to do with the creation of the direful disease. There are numerous gross errors prevalent in regard to the signs of madness in the dog. It is generally believed that a mad dog has a dread of water; but, on the contrary, the truth is that he suffers horribly from an insatiable and devouring thirst. Neither does it appear that heat or the season of the year has any effect in creating the disease. Fits, distemper, and costiveness, give rise to symptoms which are often mistaken for rabies. Aristotle thought that man was not liable to hydrophobia; that dogs could communicate it to all other animals. Plutarch says that it was never known in a human subject till two centuries after Aristotle. St. Hubert's Stole.' It suspends the effect of the bite, and allows time for a pilgrimage, which is to prevent the disease. His descendants have the privilege royal, as well as hereditary, of curing it by imposition of hands. Spontaneous hydrophobia in the human subject distinguished here from la rage. Sufferers bled to death or smothered. A man during the Revolution murdered his brother under this pretext. Salgues, Des Erreurs et des Préjugés, pp. 183 to 200. 1 See Albert Durer's Engraving, and Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art, CHAPTER XV. ICERO says of the dog, "Such fidelity of dogs in pro CICER tecting what is committed to their charge, such affectionate attachment to their masters, such jealousy of strangers, such incredible acuteness of nose in following a track, such keenness in hunting,-what else do they evince but that these animals were created for the use of man.” Cicero, De Natura Deorum. "Sense and fidelity are wonderful recommendations; and when one meets with them, and can be confident that one is not imposed upon, I cannot think that the two additional legs are any drawback. At least I know that I have had friends who would never have vexed or betrayed me, if they had walked on all fours." H. Walpole, vol. iv. p. 344. "Love me, love my dog." "Opens in his sleep, on th' eager chase E'en then intent." Eschylus. Puppies under six months old also dream. Dogs are winning in their ways; fond of children, rarely losing temper at the plaguing they endure from them. They are also fond of ladies, probably because they are treated by them with gentleness. Ever desirous to please, and eagerly attentive to man's wishes. It is stated, that dogs will rarely bite children, or men in a state of intoxication; also, that submission appeases them. Thus in the 'Odyssey ':— "Soon as Ulysses near th' enclosure drew, With open mouths the furious mastives flew : "Socrate, avait coutume de jurer par le chien; et sa raison était que cet animal est le symbole de la franchise et de la fidelité." Fréville, Chiens Célèbres. The great philosopher was one able to appreciate the goodness, and have sympathy for the generous character of the dog. Nevertheless, one cannot subscribe to the statement of Fréville; for though, "By the dog!" was, according to Plato, a common oath in the mouth of the virtuous Athenian, he also swore by the Gods, by Jupiter, and by Juno;1 and Mitchell says, by the dog, the goose, and the plane-tree. 2 "In the time of the first Robert de Clifford, in the year 1333 or 1334, Edward Baliol, king of Scotland, came into Westmoreland, and stayed some time with the said Robert at his Castles of Appleby, Brougham, and Pendragon. And during that time they ran a stag by a single greyhound out of Whinfell Park to Redkirk, in Scotland, and back again to this place; where, being both spent, the stag leaped over the pales, but died on the other side; and the greyhound, attempting to leap, fell, and died on the contrary side. In 1 Xenophon, Economicus: the Banquet. 2 The Clouds of Aristophanes. |