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1902

Page 264

Presented as published in 1902. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
■ window I could sustain myself in the air. My hair was so sensitive that I appeared able to count each separately without looking at it Saliva kept con- tinually forming in the mouth. Any movement of the air inflicted great pain on me, and I was obliged to avoid the sight cf brilliant objects ; I had a con- tinual desire to run and bite, not hu- man beings, but animals, and all that was near me. I drank with difficulty, and the sight of water distressed me more than the pain in the throat. I believe that, by shutting the eyes, any one suffering under hydrophobia can always drink. The fits came on every five minutes, and I then felt the pain start from the index finger and run up the nerves to the shoulder. In this state, thinking that my course was preservative and not curative, I took a vapour bath, not with the intention of cure, but of suffocating myself. When the bath was at a heat of 52 Centigrade (93 3-5 Fahren- heit,) all the symptoms disappeared, as if by magic, and I have never felt any thing more of them. I have attended more than 80 persons bitten by mad animals, and I have not lost a single case.” When a person has been bitten by a mad dog he must for seven succes- sive days take a vapour bath a la Russe, as it is called, of 57 to 63 degs. This is the preventive remedy. When the disease is declared, it only requires one vapour bath, rapidly increased to 57 Centigrade, then slowly to 63 ; the patient must confine himself to his chamber until the cure is complete. Dr. Buisson mentions other curious facts. An American had been bitten by a rattlesnake, about eight leagues from home ; wishing to die in the bosom of his family, he ran the greater part of the way home, and going to bed perspired profusely, and the wound healed as any simple cut. The bite of the tarantula is cured by the exercise of dancing, the free perspiration dissipa- ting the virus. If a young child be vaccinated and then be made to take a vapour bath, the vaccine does not take. When first bitten, or when the symp- toms are manifest, give a dessert-spoon- ful of the anti-spasmodic tincture, and a mild injection. Then proceed to the vapour bath, as hot as the patient can bear it. After the bath, give an emetic. The wound should be cupped, and caustic potash applied afterwards. Ap- ply a yeast poultice, and keep up the discharge. Add a little powdered char- coal to the poultice. Repeat the vapour bath and the injection every ten or twelve hours- The diet should be light and unstimulating ; the drink sudorific, or promoting perspiration. Drink oft a decoction of skullcap, and at night take sulphur and cream of tartar. HYPOCHONDRIA, or Melan- choly.— A disordered state of mind caused by the debility of the nervous system. It is manifested by lowness of spirits, inactivity, shunning and dread- ing effort, foreboding of evil, fears with- out cause ; — ; physically by flatulency, eructations, costiveness, pale urine, pal- pitations, spasmodic pains in various parts of the body, &c.