will now suppose that a person has had the misfortune to be bitten by a rabid dog: what course is he to pursue? What preventive means are to be adopted? Some persons, and of no mean standing in the medical world, have recommended a ligature. The reply would be, that this ligature must be worn during a very inconvenient and dangerous period of time. The virus lies in the wound inert during many successive weeks and months.
. Haygarth first suggested that a long-continued stream of warm water should be poured upon the wound from the mouth of a kettle. He says that the poison exists in a fluid form, and therefore we should suppose that water would be its natural solvent. Dr. Massey adds to this, that if the wound is small, it should be dilated, in order that the stream may descend on the part on which the poison is deposited. We are far, however, from being certain that this falling of water on the part, may not by possibility force a portion of the virus farther into the texture, or cause it to be entangled with other parts of the wound
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There is a similar or stronger objection to the cupping-glass of Dr. Barry. The virus, forced from the texture with which it lies in contact by the rush of blood from the substance beneath, is too likely to inoculate, or become entangled with, other parts of the wound.
There is great objection to suction of the wound; for, in addition to this possible entanglement, the lips, or the mouth, may have been abraded, and thus the danger considerably aggravated. There also remains the undecided question as to the absorption of the virus through the medium of a mucous surface.
Excision of the part is the mode of prevention usually adopted by the human surgeon, and to a certain extent it is a judicious practice. If the virus is not received into the circulation, but lies dormant in the wound for a considerable time, the disease cannot supervene if the inoculated part is destroyed.
This operation, however, demands greater skill and tact than is generally supposed. It requires a determination fully to accomplish the desired object; for every portion of the wound with which the tooth could possibly have come into contact, must be removed. This is often exceedingly difficult to accomplish, on account of the situation and direction of the wound. The knife must not enter the wound, or it will be likely to be itself empoisoned, and then the mischief and the danger will be increased instead of removed. Dr. Massey was convinced of the impropriety of this when he advised that,