Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 1.djvu/1033

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The Bite of a mad Dog is attended with this furprizing Circumftance, that its EftcftS frequently do not difcover theuifelves till after the Cauie is forgot ; the Wound Itfelf doling and healing like any other common Wound* But, fome time after, direful Symptoms enlue ; Ufually they commence in about forty Days j fbmetimes in fixty, fome- tinies not till fix Months, and lbmetimes not till a Year, or even two. The fir ft Thing obferv'd, is a wandering Pain throughout the whole Body, but chiefly about the wounded Part : The Patient grows anxious and melancholly, and very prone to Anger 5 complaining of every Thing, as the ambient Air, theHeavinefsof his BedCloaths, &c. He vomits ; his Pulfe intermits, and fbmewhat of a Tremor is oblerv'd^ with Convulfions of the Nerves and Tendons : Along with thefe he feels an inward Heat and Third : At lait rhe grand Symptom appears, which denominates the Difeafe, viz. the Aqiw <Pavcr, or Dread of Water, fo that he cannot bear fo much as the Sight of any Liquid, with- out the utmoil Confternation ; much lefs can he fwallow the fmalleft Drop. This is the Pathogonomic Sign of the Difeafe's being come to its Height ; and never happens till two or three Days before the Patient's Death 5 the Difeafe being then, by the unanimous Confent both of ancient and modern Phyficians, abfblutcly incurable.

With this there are other concomitant Symptoms. — He foams at the Mouth, his Eyes flare, he cannot fwallow his Spittle without Fain, and his %>enh is conftantly creeled : Some bark and fnarl like Dogs, and actually fancy them- ielves transformed into thofe Creatures, and, in the Height of their Madnels, are ready to fly upon and tear to Pieces the By-ftanders. — ^aimar'mi obferves, that the Hydrofho- bous Patient cannot bear to look in a Glafs, or any transpa- rent Body : And that he never recovers, unlefs he know himfelf in a Glafs 5 this being a Sign that the Poifon has nor yet laid hold of the vital Parts.

It may be added, that the Hydrophobia is not only occa- fion'd by the Bite of a mad Dog, but alfo of other Brutes, as Cats, Foxes, Wolves, Horfes, Mules, Bullocks, and even Cocks, &c. or of a Man in the like Condi- tion.

Nor is any Bite or Wound at all necefTary 5 the Saliva of a mad Dog s £f?c. being apt to convey the Difeafe by mere Contact, or Application to the Skin. — Thus, we have an Inflance in the Whilofoph'tfal l'ranfa5tion$ i of two Men catching the Difeafe by putting their Fingers in the Mouth of a Puppy that had been bit by its mad Dam, and feeling its Tongue and Throat : And the like Inflance we have in the fame Work, of two Children in Ireland, who, by touch- ing and handling the Head of a Dog that had been bit by a mad Dog, and waflu'ng the Wound, cur'd the Dog, but caught the Difeafe thcmfelves.

For the Nature and Caufe of the Hydrophobia ; — Dr. Jifead, from feveral Hiftories of particular Cafes, concludes, that the Hydrophobia is the EffecT: of a particular Kind of Inflammation of the Blood, accompany'd with fo great a Tenfion and Drynefs of the nervous Membranes, and fuch an Elafticity and Force of the Fluid with which they are fill'd, that the moil common Reprefentations are made to the Mind with too great EffecT: ; {6 that the ufual Imprefll- ons. on the Organs cannot be fuffer'd. — Hence that Timor- oufnefs, unaccountable Anxiety, and Difquietude, which are always the Forerunners of the 'Dread of Liquids 5 as alfo, the Pain often felt in making of Water, and the ftrange Averfions fbmetimes found in Patients at the Sight of any thing white, the Retina being hurt and griev'd by the lively Impreffions of that Colour thereon.-- Nor is it hard to conceive, that when the Saliva is hot, and the Throat in- flam'd and dry, the Swallowing of Drink fliould caufe fuch an intolerable Agony.

yi.Tativry^ from a nice Diffeclion and Examen of the Parts of a Perfbn dead hereof, conjectures, that the Saliva and Bile are the Fluids firft infedted ; and that the Patient vomiting a Mixture hereof, the Throat becomes excoriated thereby ; and hence that Horror for all Foods, and particu- larly Water, in regard this diflolves thofe grievous Salts con- tain'd in the Saliva and Bile. He adds, That the Nature of the Poifon is fuch, as diflolves the balfamic and nutritious Part of the Blood, whence the Veins are dry'd up, fo as not to admit any Blood from the Arteries ; and the Arterial Blood by this means fuftaining the Action and Impreflion of its VefTels for fo long a Time, is ftill further diflolv'd, atte- nuated, and fpiritualiz'd, and thus fent, in too great Quan- tity, and with too great Rapidity, to the Brain 5 whence thofe Convulfions, DiftracTions, £efc.

Dr. Lifter* from the remarkable Hiflory of J. Corton, whom he attended under this Difeafe, concludes, i°. That fome of the organic Parts of his Body were a&ually trans- form'd into, or aftecled after the Nature of a Don, especially the Gula, Tongue, &C fo that anv Fluid offer J d him in the ere£t Poliure of a Man, was frightful, as well as difficult to take, as much as it would be for us to get a Dog to drink

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Handing oil his hind Legs. But this was not all ; for wlte* 1 he- was turn'd upon his Belly, and would have afted the Dog, he could not drink ; tho' the Sight of the Litjuor in. that Pofture gave him as much Pleafure, as in the other Pofture it did Pain ; and tho' he frequently put out his Tongue, and lapp'd, yet he could not endure to take any thing Liquid into his Month, as tho' fomethinp hinder'd him within. 2 . That his Spittle was envenomed 5 for as olt as he fwallow'd it, his Stomach vehemently abhorring it* it went to his Heart, as he faid, and was prefent Death to him : And fo Liquid Things coming nearer to the Confidence" of Spittle, might give him the greater Terror, as they tend- ed to promote the Difcharge of Saliva into his Mouth ; and for the fame Reafon might be more difficult to fwallow than folid Things.

At to the Cure of the Hydrophobia, Dr. Mead, after Sales, recommends it, in this as in other venomous Cafes, to enlarge the Wound by a circular Incifion, to apply a Cautery to it, and to keep it open for at leafi forty Days. But if this Me; thod feem too cruel, it may fuffice to extrafi the Poifon by clapping a Cupping glafs on the Place, having firft made a deep Scarification. The Doflor adds, he has known a Per. fon frefh bitten, happily fav'd by the fole Application of th« tfngilenmm Mgyptwcma exceedingly hot.

If thefe external Precautions have not been us'd, or hot in Time, recourfe muft be had to internal Remedies: Alexi- pharmachicks muft be drank ; among which, the Afhes of River Lobfters, or Cray Fifli, are principally extoll'd by all the ancient Phyficians ; fo that Galen affirms, no Body had ever dy'd who uftd this Remedy. Thefe Afhes to be taken to the Quantity of one or two Spoonfuls every Day for forty Days fucceffively, either alone, or with Gentian Root and Frankincenfe in Wine.

But the frequent and fudden plunging of the Patient over Head and Ears in the Salt Sea Water, is the beft and fureft Prefervative againft this Difeafe.

Btmuller recommends Cardiacks and Alexipharmachicks, bur all in a double Dofe, and long continu'd ; and Garlic, Rue, and Salt to be beat together, and apply'd in form of a Cataplafm over the Wound. Purging wirh Hellebore and Mercurius Dulcis is alfo good ; and' Cantharides are a Sort of Specific. Scarrifying is commended 5 and after the Scarriii- cation, an Onion roafted under the Allies, to be apply'd. But the readied Remedy, he adds, is burning the Place affected with a red hot Iron, which effectually removes all the Malignity. If the Phylician be not call'd till late, a Cupping-glafs is to be apply'd very hot : An IiTue near the Place may likewife be of Service.

Sir 'I'heod. Mayeme gives the following Prefcriptions for the Bite of a mad Dog. Pluck the Feathers from the Breech of an old Cock, and apply it bare to the Bite : If the Do? were mad, the Cock will fwell and die, and the Perfon bitten will do well : If the Cock dies not, the Dog was not mad. 'Phihfoph. TranfaB. N". 191.

'Tis a common Notion, that a Hair of the fame Dog ap- ply'd on the Bite, attracts the Venom, and works a Cure : But a Phyfician of Rojloch, in a formal DifTertation fome Tears ago.prov'd this a popular Error ; and that the Remedy Was more like to do harm than good.

The Marks whereby to know that a Dog is mad, are, his neither eating nor drinking, foaming at the Mouth 'and Noflrils, looking fad and fullen, and running at any thing in his Way, whether Man or Beaft, known or unknown, without barking. — Salditl, a famous Lawyer, dy'd of the Hydrophobia four Months after his being bir in the Lin by a little Dog. And the fame is faid of Diogenes the Cynic.

The Members of the Royal Academy of Sciences, furniili us with various Instances of Pcrfotis cur'd of the Difeafe by various Means. — M. 'Poupart mentions a Woman perfectly recover'd by bleeding her to a Deliquium, binding her in a Chair for a Tear, and feeding her all that Time with Bread and Water. — M. Seroer relates, that of feveral Perfons bitten, two were cur'd by bleeding them in the Forehead. -- M. du Hamel adds, that' he has known Salt Water apply'd on the Wound, eflefl a Cure. — Divers Cafes are prhdue'e! of thofe cur'd of the AaUtc <Pavor, by being overwhelm'd with a great Quantity of Water ; and one, by being only ty'd to a Tree, and 200 Pails of Water thrown on him. — But the beft Inflance is that of M. Mori?;. A Maid of twenty Years of Age having all the Symptoms, was bath'd in a Tub of River Water, wherein a Bufhel of Salr had been diflolv'd, They plung'd her naked again and again, till, harrafs'd almoft ro Death, they left her'in ir quite fenfelefs.— When fhe came to herfelf, Ihe was furpriz'd to find herfelf looking at the Water without any Concern. Hijloire del Acad. An. 1-09.

HYDROPHORIA, in Antiquity, a Feaft or Funeral Ce- remony, held among the Athenians and People of JEpha, in Memory of thofe who perilli'd in the Deluge. See' De- luge.

The Word is form'd of the Greek, iJiii, Water, and ipipa, I bear, or carry off.

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HYDROPIC,