M. M. Rub the legs with camphor dissolved in oil, and let the patient wear stockings in bed. If a foot-board be put at the bed's feet, and the bed be so inclined, that he will rest a little with his toes against the foot-board, that pressure is said to prevent the undue contractions of the musculi gastrocnemii, which constitute the calf of the leg. In gouty patients, or where the bowels are affected with acidity, half a grain of opium, and six grains of rhubarb, and six of chalk, every night. Flesh-meat to supper. A little very weak warm spirit and water may be taken for present relief, when these cramps are very troublesome to weak or gouty patients.
[15]. Hydrophobia. Dread of water generally attending canine madness. I was witness to a case, where this disease preceded the locked jaw from a wound in the ankle, occasioned by a fall from a horse; as mentioned in the preceding article. It came on about the sixth day after the accident; when the patient attempted to swallow fluids, he became convulsed all over from the pain of this attempt, and spurted them out of his mouth with violence. It is also said to happen in some hysterical cases. Hence it seems rather the immediate consequence of a pained tendon, than of a contagious poison. And is so far analogous to tetanus, according with the opinions of Doctor Rusch and Doctor Percival.
In other respects, as it is produced by the saliva of an enraged animal instilled into a wound, it would seem analogous to the poison of venomous animals. And from the manner of its access so long after the bite, and of its termination in a short time, it would seem to resemble the progress of contagious fevers. See Sect. XXII. 3. 3.
If the patient was bitten in a part, which could be totally cut away, as a finger, even after the hydrophobia appears, it is probable it might cure it; as I suspect the cause still remains in the wounded tendon, and not in a diffused infection tainting the blood. Hence there are generally uneasy sensations, as cold or numbness, in the old cicatrix, before the hydrophobia commences. See a case in Medical Communications, Vol. II. p. 190.
If the diseased tendon could be inflamed without cutting it out, as by cupping, or caustic, or blister after cupping, and this in the old wound long since healed, after the hydrophobia commences, might prevent the spasms about the throat. As inflaming the teeth by the use of mercury is of use in some kinds of hemicrania. Put spirit of turpentine on the wound, wash it well. See Class [I. 3. 1. 11]. [IV. 1. 2. 7].
M. M. Wine, musk, oil, internally. Opium, mercurial ointment, used extensively. Mercurial fumigation. Turpeth mineral. To salivate the patient as soon as possible. Exsection or a caustic on the scar, even after the appearance of hydrophobia. Put a tight bandage on the limb above the scar of the old wound to benumb the pained tendon, however long the wound may have been healed. Could a hollow catheter of elastic gum, caoutchouc, be introduced into the œsophagus by the mouth or nostril, and liquid nourishment be thus conveyed into the stomach? See Desault's Journal, Case I. where, in an ulcer of the mouth, such a catheter was introduced by the nostril, and kept in the œsophagus for a month, by which means the patient was nourished and preserved.
It is recommended by Dr. Bardsley to give oil internally by a similar method contrived by Mr. John Hunter. He covered a probang with the skin of a small eel, or the gut of a lamb or cat. It was tied up at one end above and below the sponge, and a slit made above the upper ligature; to the other end of the eel-skin or gut was fixed a bladder and pipe. The probang thus covered was introduced into the stomach, and the liquid food or medicine was put into the bladder and squeezed down through the eel-skin. Mem. of Society at Manchester. See Class [I. 2. 3. 25].
Dr. Bardsley has endeavoured to prove, that dogs never experience the hydrophobia, or canine madness, without having been previously bitten or infected; and secondly, that the disease in this species of animal always shews itself in five or six weeks; and concludes from hence, that this dreadful malady might be annihilated by making all the dogs in Great Britain perform a kind of quarantine, by shutting them up for a certain number of weeks. Though the disease from the bite of the mad dog is perhaps more analogous to those from the wounds inflicted by venomous animals than to those from other contagious matter, yet these observations are well worthy further attention; which the author promises.