In olden days the remedies generally administered to patients suffering
from the bite of a dog were many and curious, and probably by the
average patient they were regarded in reality rather as something in the
nature of a charm than as medicines. Doubtless they gave confidence to
the person who had been bitten, and, so far, were good. But in very many
cases they got the credit of being infallible remedies solely because in
most instances the dog which had given the bite was no more afflicted
with rabies than was the person whom it bit; probably it was some poor,
hunted, frightened beast which had lost its master, and against which
some panic-stricken individual had raised the senseless cry of "mad
dog."
One remedy prescribed by a famous physician who lived so late as
mid-eighteenth century, was "ash-coloured ground liver-wort a
half-ounce, black pepper a quarter-ounce," to be taken, fasting, in four
doses, the patient having been bled prior to beginning the cure.
Thereafter for a month, each morning he must plunge into a cold spring
or river, in which he must be dipped all over, but must stay no longer
than half a minute. Finally, to complete the cure, he must for a
fortnight longer enter the river or spring three times a week.
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