Observations on hydrophobia, produced by the bite of a mad dog, or other rabid animal : with an examination of the various theories and methods of cure, existing at the present day, and an inquiry into the merit of specific remedies : also a method of treatment best adapted to the brute creation : in a series of letters to a friend / by James Thatcher.

  • Thacher, James, 1754-1844.
Date:
1812
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on hydrophobia, produced by the bite of a mad dog, or other rabid animal : with an examination of the various theories and methods of cure, existing at the present day, and an inquiry into the merit of specific remedies : also a method of treatment best adapted to the brute creation : in a series of letters to a friend / by James Thatcher. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    SYMPTOMS DISTINCTIVE OF MADNESS IN DOGS. In pursuance of my purpose, I proceed to collate and accumulate materials constituent of a succinct expo- sition of the systems, opinions, and modes of practice existing at the present day. Leaving no accessible source uninvestigated, I shall supersede your recourse to multiplied, detached productions, for the acquire- ment of a portion of knowledge, which may be con- densed in a few appropriate pages. But at the very threshold of research, I am ready almost to shrink from the arduous task ; as it leads my mind into paths of intricacy, and rises to a magnitude I had not con- templated, and threatens to betray my incompetency in the execution. Dogs are liable to a variety of diseases which are little understood, and it is highly important that the symptoms, characteristic of the fatal one under con- sideration, should be precisely discriminated. This malady is at certain seasons epidemical, when its melancholy ravages are widely extended, though, in general, it originates from the contagious saliva communicated from one animal to another by means of a bite. The symptoms of the disorder in dogs, and all other animals, commence sometimes in ten or twelve days, but more commonly between three and eight weeks, though in some instances, not till eight months after having received the bite ; and they sel- 4