The therapeutics of hydrophobia / by Wm. Curran.

  • Curran, William, 1927-
Date:
1886
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The therapeutics of hydrophobia / by Wm. Curran. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    then let the patient drink of it.” And much good may it do him say I, may I add, so say all of us. The following, with which I will close this paper/are the “ Receipts for the cure of dog’s madness, that were recommended by Sir Theodore Mayern in the Philoso- phical Transactions \as above, vol. iv., p. 484:—“ Take (he directs) Virginia s'pake-root, and flowers of St. John’s Wort gathered in their prime, of each equal parts, let them be made into very fine powder, the dose is from a scruple to a drachm, to be taken in any sort of decoc- tion prepared with specifics. To a horse two drachms, to a dog from 1 to 14 drachms, and this before the ninth day after the bite.” CThis rue ought, if one may judge from the frequency with which it occurs in old prescriptions for this disease, be considered a truly sovereign remedy. I find it also recommended by “ The Old Shekarry,” in that very veracious publication of his he called “ The Hunting Grounds of the Old World.” His directions respecting it are as follows :—“ Six ounces of rue, picked from the stalk and bruised, four ounces of Venice treqcle, four ounces of mithridate, four ounces of the scrapings of pewter, boil these ingredients over a slow fire in two quarts of strong ale, till one pint is consumed, then put it in a bottle closely stopped, and give nine spoonfuls to a man or woman warm, seven successive mornings fasting.”/ Another :—“ Take leaves of rue picked from the stalks and bruised, six ounces London treacle . . . garlic pulled and bruised, and fine filings of tin, of each four ounces, put them into four pounds of canary or good white wine . . . there let it quietly digest or boil in balneo for four hours, keeping in the steam, and then press and strain it. The dose is from two to three ounces to be taken every morning for nine days. The patient must fast for a time after it, and the dregs that remain after expression must be applied to the wound and renewed every twenty-four hours. AnotherPluck the feathers from the breech of an old cock, and apply it bare to the wound; if the dog were mad, the cock will swell and die, and the patient will do well, but if the cock dies not, the dog was not mad. If the wounds be very small it is proper to open them with a lancet* and this precious prescription, involving as it does, the usual reductio ad absurdum of the writers or practitioners of this period, or of the old school, generally, precludes the necessity for any further discussion by me of this subject in these pages.