Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. VI, November 1850, Vol. IVarious
History
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. VI, November 1850, Vol. I
Various
American literature -- Periodicals; Civilization -- Periodicals; Culture -- Periodicals
From the whole of the symptoms, he judged himself afflicted with
hydrophobia, and resolved to terminate his life by stifling himself in a
vapor bath. Having entered one for this purpose, he caused the heat to
be raised to 107° 36" Fahr., when he was equally surprised and delighted
to find himself free of all complaint. He left the bathing-room well,
dined heartily, and drank more than usual. Since that time, he says, he
has treated in the same manner more than eighty persons bitten, in four
of whom the symptoms had declared themselves; and in no case has he
failed, except in that of one child, seven years old, who died in the
bath. The mode of treatment he recommends is, that the person bit should
take a certain number of vapor baths (commonly called Russian), and
should induce every night a violent perspiration, by wrapping himself in
flannels, and covering himself with a feather-bed; the perspiration is
favored by drinking freely of a warm decoction of sarsaparilla. He
declares, so convinced is he of the efficacy of his mode of treatment,
that he will suffer himself to be inoculated with the disease. As a
proof of the utility of copious and continual perspiration, he relates
the following anecdote: A relative of the musician Gretry was bitten by
a mad dog, at the same time with many other persons, who all died of
hydrophobia. For his part, feeling the first symptoms of the disease, he
took to dancing, night and day, saying that he wished to die gayly. He
recovered. M. Buisson also cites the old stories of dancing being a
remedy for the bite of a tarantula; and draws attention to the fact,
that the animals in whom this madness is most frequently found to
develop itself spontaneously, are dogs, wolves, and foxes, which never
perspire.
THE DOOM OF THE SLAVER.
AN ENGLISH STORY OF THE AFRICAN BLOCKADE.
On a glorious day, with a bright sun and a light breeze, Her Majesty's
brig Semiramis stood along under easy sail, on a N.W. course up the
Channel of Mozambique. Save the man at the wheel and the "look-outs" in
the tops, every one seemed taking it easy. And indeed there was no
inducement to exertion; for the sky was cloudless, and the temperature
of that balmy warmth that makes mere existence a luxury. The men,
therefore, continued their "yarns" as they lounged in little groups
about the deck; the middies invented new mischief, or teased the cook;
the surgeon divided his time between watching the flying-fish and
reading a new work on anatomy (though he never turned a fresh page);
while the lieutenant of the watch built "châteux-en-Espagne," or
occasionally examined, with his telescope, the blue hills of Madagascar
in the distance.
"Sail ho!" shouted the look-out in the foretop.
"Where away?" cried the lieutenant, springing to his feet, while at the
same moment every man seemed to have lost his listlessness, and to be
eager for action of any kind.
"Over the starboard quarter, making sou' west."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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