4th. He can almost get up. He recognises me for the first time. His
appetite, which was never much impaired, has returned: this is to be
attributed to strychnia, or the seton, or the daily aperient mixture.
They have all, perhaps, been serviceable, but I attribute most to the
strychnia; for I have rarely, indeed, seen any dog recover from such an
attack. Continue the treatment.
6th. Fast recovering. Medicine as before.
14th. Improving, but not so fast as before. Still continue the
treatment.
28th. Going on slowly, but satisfactorily. Remove the seton, but
continue the other treatment.
13th October.--Quite well.
* * * * *
CHAPTER VII.
RABIES.
We are now arrived at one of the most important subjects in veterinary
pathology. In other cases the comfort and the existence of our quadruped
patients are alone or chiefly involved, but here the lives of our
employers, and our own too, are at stake, and may be easily, and too
often are, compromised. Here also, however other portions of the chain
may be overlooked or denied, we have the link which most of all connects
the veterinary surgeon with the practitioner of human medicine; or,
rather, here is the circumscribed but valued spot where the veterinary
surgeon has the vantage-ground.
In describing the nature, and cause and treatment of rabies, it will be
most natural to take the animal in which it oftenest appears, by which
it is most frequently propagated; the time at which the danger
commences, and the usual period before the death of the patient.
Some years ago a dog, naturally ferocious, bit a child at Lisson Grove.
The child, to all appearance previously well, died on the third day, and
an inquest was to be held on the body in the evening. The Coroner
ordered the dog to be sent to me for examination The animal was,
contrary to his usual habit, perfectly tractable. This will appear to be
of some importance hereafter. I examined him carefully. No suspicious
circumstance could be found about him. There was no appearance of
rabies. In the mean time the inquest took place, and the corpse of the
child was carefully examined. One medical gentleman thought that there
were some suspicious appearances about the stomach, and another believed
that there was congestion of the brain.
The owner of the dog begged that the animal might not be taken from him,
but might accompany him home. He took him home and destroyed him that no
experiments might be made.
With great difficulty we procured the carcass, and from some
inflammatory appearances about the tongue and the stomach, and the
presence of a small portion of indigestible matter in the stomach, we
were unanimously of opinion that the dog was rabid.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account