before hydrophobie For that hauing once gotten the possession most men are of opinion that all physicke commeth to late Now concerning the gouernement and dyet of the bitten bodie it is thought best to lodge him in a chamber that is hot and very lightsome for the better euocation of the spirits and blood to the outward parts of the body and neuer suffer him to be alone but accompanied if it may bee wâ—â—h such as with pretty pleasing tales and merry iests or instruments of musicke or both are able to giue refreshment to his dulled spirits Let no means be vsed to put him in feare nor to make him sorrowfull His diet must be in a mediocritie neither very plentifull nor slender Emptinesse or want of eating encreaseth the euill qualitie of humours which is a very pernitious thing in any malignant vlcer He may eat of veale mutton hens chickens or capons flesh and such other as breed good iuyce being seasoned with the iuice of orenges limmons citrons which he may eat by themselues also And the powders of tormentill pimpinella mary-golds borrage and such other like herbes very good to strawe or sprinkle vpon his meat Rabbi Moyses forbiddeth the eating of pigeons because saith he they be very exceeding hurtfull for such as be thus affected through a speciall property of substance in them But contrariwise he commendeth the mutton or flesh of rams though it breed but bad iuyce for that it hath a secret property to do good in this infirmitie All writers with one consent approue and counsell the vse and eating of fresh water crabfishes for the natiue inbred propertie they haue against the poyson of this malady as often experience hath proued Creuises also boiled in good wine are approued Paulus Aegineta aduiseth that such meat and drinke should chiefly be vsed as is of force to dull and extinguish the strength and working of the poison and keepe it from spreading it selfe through the bottome of the stomacke both which properties hee saith are performed by drinking of pure wine that is sweet and old or by drinking of milk and eating of garlicke onyons or leekes Aetius approueth the eating of garlicke and such other sharpe and hot meats in the beginning but not after least the poyson thereby might become more forcible but he forbiddeth the drinking of wine Neuerthelesse most writers doe esteeme it very medicinable to drinke strong wine at the very beginning as wel as to eat hot and sharpe meats And some like of grosse and slimie meats also that by encreasing of obstructions may the better hinder the piercing of the poyson to the principall parts But after fiue or fix daies be past from the beginning then will it be best to reduce all to mediocritie as was sayd before and forbeare very hot meats and drinkes Then will it be good to vse drinke of meane strength in which are steeped the leaues of pimpinella that is burnt and the flowers of marygolds A Iulep also made of firupe of cichorie and the decoction of sorrell and barly is good to drinke This Iulep following is very goodalso to vse Take of the iuyce of limmons and citrons each halfe an ounce of the iuice of sower pomgranates two ounces sorrell water and rose water each an ounce spring water boyled as much as will suffice Make heereof a 〈◊〉 according to art of which it is good to drinke often Rost meats are not so good to be vsed as meats boised especially in some liquor that opening simples apt to procure vrine are sod in Their bread should be made of the best wheat and well leuened Of fruits they may vse walnut sigges and almons and some say that chesnuts haue a propertie to doe good Let such as accompanie the sicke at their meat take heed they can not of any meat they haue tasted And some thinke it dangerous also to drinke in the cup or glasse that they drinke in except it be first very well washt The vse of vineger and sower fruits or herbes is thought good Some admonish the bitten body not to touch the cornell tree nor rest within the shadow of it or the tree called Sanguinaria which is the female cornell tree or shrubbe nor to sleepe vnder the sernice tree but to shunne them for the space of a whole yeere because these trees are reported to haue such a kind of propertie in them as will quickly hasten forward their madnes Sleepe especially if it be much is hurtfull till the strength of the poison be well abated or till the sicke be much distempered for want of sleepe Venerious actions should be forborne a yeere together It were very requisite that the sicke body should be kept indifferent loose or soluble all the time of his sickenes or infirmitie and to goe once or twise in a day to stoole and pisse freely if he can Now for the better dilucidation of the manner of curing this kind of maladie I thought it good heere to insert the method and meanes which Franciscus Valleriola a very learned Physitian vsed in curing one far gone toward madnes by the biting of a mad dogge This man was bitten a little aboue one of his ancles Obser lib. 3. Obser 3. and thereupon was carried by his freinds to a village called Les Sainctes Maries which of the vulgar sort is accounted a place sacred or hallowed for the curing of such as are bitten by madde dogges where he was washed bathed in the sea the space of nine daies together after which he was brought home againe to Arles where he dwelt the wound being growne very grieuous He looked with a writhen or warped countenance vsing little speech and seemed full of meditations like such as be troubled with melancholie The wound was of a pale or ashie colour and full of venemous matter and therefore speedily to be taken in hand Finding his body very costiue he caused this clyster to be prepared for him â„ž Malnar althaeae cum suis radicib matrum violar branc vrsin mercurialis melissophylli ana M j. flor chamomel melilot rorismarin ana P j. epithym â„¥ ss furfuris macri P j. Fiat omnium decoctio in iure capitis castrati omasorum ad lib. j. coletur In colutura adde cathol â„¥ j. Confect hamech Ê’ iij. ol violar â„¥ iiij sacchari rub â„¥ j. Fiat Clyster This clyster hauing performed his operation he presently made the wound to be cauterized with a hot iron and for the more speedie remouing of the crust or scabbe caused by the searing he anointed it with a mixture made of fresh butter the yelke of an egge and swines grease and sometime he mixed Vnguentum basilicum with it While these things were in hand he gaue preseruatiues inward for the subducting of the poisonous infection and because he was a plethorike young man and of bad humors also he did both let him blood purge him For he feared not the recoyling or drawing inward of the venemous matter
night hee began to rage and though tormented with intollerable thirst and a troublesome feuer yet could he not be forced to drinke any kinde of drinke or water which is a common accident in this disease Then was hee strongly bound to a post yet so great was his furie and madnesse that he had almost broken the cords with a desire to runne vpon the by-standers crying away away and sometime howling like a dog gaping wide tormented with thirst and as it were holding his mouth open for drinke but when it was cast into his mouth with a spout hee would tremble and quake for feare continuing in this manner most cruelly vexed with insufferable thirst and hellish heat and burning vntill the second day from the beginning of his madnesse was neere ended and then hee yeelded vp the ghost in wonderfull torture and no lesse terrour and astonishment to the beholders being the 36 day after his biting Iulianus Palmarius also writeth that hee knew a man of the country bitten with a mad dogge who in like maner became mad so furious that he was bound with cordes for restraint of his fury and the hurt he was like to doe vnto others Yet sometime this man found intermission of his fits in such sort as he then would speake and talke sensiblie and would yeld to reason And on a time in such a kinde of intermission and sensiblenesse making account hee should die very shortlie he desired such as were about him that he might take his leaue of his children which being permitted he embraced and kissed them very louingly and very shortly after hee yeelded vp the ghost But about 7 dayes after these his children became as mad as their father and being vexed with the like tortures died within few daies very pitifully tormented Hieronymus Cardanus in like maner sheweth that one Alexander Brasca a nobleman of Venice Lib. 2. Conten Medico Tract 5. hauing a dogge fallen mad that he exceedingly loued which for his madnesse was taken to be hanged this man in a foolish kindnesse would needs kisse his beloued dogge before his execution But such was the sequel of this kissing as himselfe became mad also in very short space after and died very miserablie Matthaeus de Gradibus saith Cons 82. that one Iohn Coqueran by the only putting of his hand into a mad dogs mouth became mad himselfe thereby And P. Andraeas Matthiolus testifieth that he saw two men vexed with this kinde of madnesse by the only sprinkling of a mad dogges slauer vpon them without being bitten at all Baptista Codronchus a late writer Iab 1. de Hydrophob cap. 5. saith he knew a certaine rich man of Saint Peters castle in the dition of Bononia who seeing a little dogge of his that hee dearely loued enraged so with madnesse as he ran vp and downe gaping and foaming at the mouth he supposing that some bone had stucke in his mouth or throat would needs trie with his hand the plucking out therof but was for his kindnesse so bitten by this his darling that thereupon he became cruelly tortured with the feare of water and conuulsions and the seuenth day after in great miserie and torment tooke his leaue of this world He was twice or thrice cast into the water and enforced to drinke it but without any reliefe at all Heereby we may see not onely the cruelty of this kinde of poyson but also learne to take heed of it in time But though the foame or slauer of a mad dogge be by all mens consent of a most virulent nature yet Petrus Salius Diuersus a very learned and intelligent Physitian cannot be perswaded that by only touching of the skinne of ones bodie it can be of force to procure madnesse except the skin bee broken in that part which the foame toucheth Yet surely I for my part doe verily beleeue that if it be suffred to lie long vpon the sound skin it will worke such an effect in the end in some sooner in some later according to the constitution and disposition of the partie bitten and the poysonous degree of such filthy slauer Philostratus an ancient writer Hist 6. lib. 18. in vita Apollonij Tyanei hath a storie of a young man that being bitten with a mad dog was within a little while after so altred from all humane manners and conditions that he became altogether dog-like in his behauiour For he would barke and sit on the ground like a dogge and when he offred to go it was still vpon all foure vsing his hands as his feet as apes doe continuing in this wretched estate the space of thirty dayes together Iulian Palmarius before named affirmeth that hee had seene horses oxen sheepe and other cattel become mad vpon the eating of such straw or hay as mad swine had tumbled in Yet this is a mischiefe that few people hitherto haue greatly made account of which slight regard of a thing so full of perill hath beene one speciall cause that hath moued mee to publish the danger thereof in such maner as by the beholding of other mens harmes the readers heereof may heerafter become more circumspect and warie and when occasion serueth seeke remedy with speed This kind of madnesse is called in greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in latine Rabies or Furor of the Greeke verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Rabie percellor insanio The greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth also signifie furorem furie but that is such a maner of fury as belongeth to reasonable creatures rather thē bruit beasts And Rabies taken rather for doggish-madnes then furor hath this propertie attributed to it that although the sicke therof be extreamly tormented with thirst and heat yet doe they so wonderfully abhorre and feare the sight yea as some haue obserued the very noise or speech of water and other drinke as they will in no wise taste thereof but tremble and quake when they looke on it and therefore by all meanes auoid it Some in stead of rabies call it hydrophobia that is to say water-feare But this seemeth rather a consequent to rabies and to come vpon the stage in the very last act of this tragedie My purpose was not in a matter of such a subiect as may be shut vp in so smal a roome as this to stand curiously vpon any bookish method for the handling heere of but rather as compendiouslie without multiplicitie of words as I could to set abroach the knowledge thereof in our vulgar language in manner of a caueat or watch-word to al such as haue vse and dealing with dogges though notwithstanding I thinke it not amisse heere to shew some definition or description of this infirmitie for the plaine explanation of it although very few haue vouchsaued so much in the treatie hereof therfore for auoiding of tediousnes I will produce only one which in my conceit doth more significantly expresse the nature of this infirmitie then any other
But yet because I am loth altogether to frustrate their expectation of somewhat from me that may helpe to direct such as be nouices in the practise of physicke for ordring the cure heereof when occasion shal happen to be offred I wil in few words shew them how I would proceed in hope of their helpe if any such came vnder mine hand First therefore if the byting be new and fresh I would binde the bitten member about foure or fiue fingers distance aboue the bitten place if it were in such a part as I might well doe it or lay on some astrictiue plaster such as before hath been set downe for the better restraint of the poysons passage especially in sanguine or cholericke bodies whose waies and passages are large and the heat of their complexions some motine to the speedier working of it the quantitie and qualitie of the venome being considered withall But in bodies of grosse humours and cold complexions the regard of such astriction may bee the lesse for that in such bodies the poyson findeth not his passage or operation so easie This done I would note whether the wound were great or small if great I would suffer it to bleed well if small I would enlarge it and make it bleed sufficiently hauing first washt away the foame or flauer of the dogges mouth with the vrine of a boy or some other good lotion either by circination as hath beene shewed before or scarification or leeches then set on a great cupping glasse with a good flame if the bitten part would receine it or a cupping horne after the remouing heereof I would wash and foment it againe with some strong brine or salt water tempered with the best sort of treacle or with the lotion that Ambrosius Paraus vsed to the Lady Grons daughter and lastof all I would foment it in such maner as Iulian Palmarius hath aduised with a mixture of his powder if I had it in a readinesse and giue of the same powder inward according to his counsell forbearing to torture the bitten body with cauteries as much as I could and rest only vpon the operation of this so much commended Antidote which I would continue for the space of 40. daies at the least still fomenting and bathing the hurt place euery day as I should finde occasion and withall vse meanes to keepe the fore from healing vp al that while though Palmarius affirme it needlesse so to doe But if this powder were not in readinesse then after the binding washing and clensing with such lotions as before are named and cupping with scarification I would seare it either with an actuall or a potential cautery according to the doctrine before deliuered by the learned procuring the fall or comming away of the scabbe or crust with what speed I could and keeping open the sear a sufficient time vsing euacuations by purging bleeding and sweating in their due times and inward corroboratiues and diet c. in such sort as hath beene specified But except I should see the greater occasion I wold in stead of opening a vaine in the arme vse a practise that none of them haue spoken of that I haue read namely the opening of the hemorrhoidall vaines in the fundament For so by all probabilitie the venemous pollution would be drawen downe thither from the princip all parts without detriment to any other If many daies were past before the bitten bodie came to my curing I would deale with him as Doctor Palmarius counselleth if I had his Antidote in a readines or els as Franciscus Valleriola dealt with his patient or like differing from his practise Prognosticke notes ALl that be bitten oâ— a mad dogge if they bee neglected or badly cured wil fall into the passion of fearing water called hydrophobie at one time or other and much the rather if they be repleat with euill humors But all this may easily be preuented if at the first there bee good order taken For fewe haue miscaried thereby that presently haue vsed good meanes to withstand it Petrus Salius saith that in his countrie it hath been long time obserued for truth that if such as be bitten by a mad creature chance to touch the plant or tree called Cornus or Sanguinaria that is the Cornell or dogbery tree within the space of one yeere after his biting he will certainely fall mad And some also affirme that if the bitten doe sleepe vnder the tree called Sorbus which we call a Seruice tree he will doe the like Though the biting be but small and in the vpper part of the skinne yet all speed ought to be vsed for cure thereof For otherwise it wil be a very hard matter to preuent the mischiefe depending thereon The poison conteined in the slauer or spittle of a mad dogge is hot and drie malignant and contagious causing a distemper like it selfe in all such as bee hurt thereby which if it be suffred to lie on the skinne of any part of the body and not quickly washt away with salt water vrine or such like it will infect the whole body though it be not bitten The fome or slauer of a mad dogs mouth touching ones lippes or tongue will so quickly and easilie peirce though those parts that it wil very speedily induce madnes if it be not quickly preuented which is verified by a historie out of Caelius Orlerianus which makes report of a certaine Semster or Sewster that while she was making a shirt a dogge that she no whit suspected to be madde snatcht at the shirt and rent it with his teeth which rent place she afterward held betwixt her teeth to plucke it out streight that she might the better sowe it euen but by this houlding betwixt her teeth she so lickt the bitten rent of the cloth that the third day after she became starke mad and so died That this is like to be true heare what Guiliel Iâ—b Obser Cuâ—at Câ—…rur Obser 86. Fabritius a very excellent and expert Chirurgian of our time reporteth of the like in his chirurgicall obscruations and cures A certaine Matron or ancient woman hapt to be met in the way by a madde dogge who catching hould of one of her coates tare it in two or three places and so went his way without hurting any part of her body at all This woman not knowing or supposing the dogge to be mad at her comming home sowed vp the rents of her coat and when she had done bit of the thred with her teeth without perceiuing any hurt at all thereby till three monthes were past After which she began by little and little to grow melancholike and troubled with imaginations horrible visions and feares and lastly she fell into a great loathing of water wine and liquid things and moreouer to barke like a dog loosing the knowledge of such as were vsually in the house with her and offring to bite them continuing in this state till she died The scratching also with the nailes as well as