state of affairs, and seeing the dog still convulsed and foaming at the
mouth, was more than ever confirmed in the belief of hydrophobia, and
knowing full well the biting propensities of the animal, independent of
rabies, concluded, much to the relief of every one, to shoot him. The
next step in the programme was the dragging out and consigning of the
patient to a watery grave, which was accomplished by placing, with a
pair of tongs, a noose over the head of the animal, and thus hauling him
out of the basement window amid the cheers of the assembled populace who
soon cast him into the Delaware.
The second case of rabies as related to us by Mr. Hembel was as
follows:--In 1793 the barbers of the city were in the habit of going
around to the various boarding-houses for the purpose of shaving the
visitors in their apartments, instead of accommodating them, as at the
present time, in their own establishments.
One of these knights of the razor, living also in Front street, when
going to and from a fashionable boarding-house in the vicinity, was not
unfrequently assailed by a small cur who often took him by the heels
when hurrying along.
To get rid of this annoying little animal as speedily and secretly as
possible, he had recourse to the powers of strychnia, which produced in
a very short time similar effects upon the poor victim, and the result
was another great hue and cry about mad dogs.
These authentic and remarkable cases of hydrophobia were heralded in all
the papers of the day, which, from that time forward, were filled with
notes of caution to all dog-owners.
Of the 'treatment' of rabies we will make but a few remarks, as of the
immense number of specifics proposed for this disease, amounting in all
to several hundred, few or none can be relied on to the exclusion of the
others; but those medicines, perhaps, known as opiates or
anti-spasmodics, claim a larger share of attention than any others in
combating the disease after its development. In looking over the very
original works of Jacques Du Fouilloux, a worthy cynegetical writer of
the sixteenth century, we find a prescription that was supposed by many
to be an infallible specific for this disease, and as it appears to us
quite as certain in its effects on the animal economy as many others of
the inert substances that have been lauded to the skies both in our
country and in other parts of the world as antidotes, we take the
liberty of transcribing it, as also of adding a translation of his
quaint French.
'Autre recepte par mots preservants la rage.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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