On hydrophobia and distemper madness : a plea for the canine race, showing the inutility of the Muzzling Order, and the folly of creating needless panic / by the editor of Health news.

Date:
[1896?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On hydrophobia and distemper madness : a plea for the canine race, showing the inutility of the Muzzling Order, and the folly of creating needless panic / by the editor of Health news. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    6/18 (page 4)
    A certain holy man, it is said, travelling from a Persian city, encountered the Spirit of Cholera, about to enter. The holy man implored Cholera to lightly afflict the inhabitants, and Cholera promised to do so. Returning some months afterwards, the holy man was horrified at learning that hundreds of people had .died in an epidemic, which occurred soon after he had left. Incensed at what he considered a gross breach of good faith, he sought out the Spirit of Cholera, with bitter upbraidings for broken promises. To these the Spirit calmly replied : “ Only ten died of cholera, the rest died of fright.” A singular instance of the effects of fear on the nervous system was reported from abroad some years ago. A young woman, having had a quarrel with her sweetheart, arrived (as young women occasionally do in such circumstances, in all countries) at the conclusion that life was no longer “ worth carrying on,” and deliberately set about poisoning herself. With this object in view, she cut off the igniting ends of a number of matches ; these she steeped in water, and then drank the deadly infusion. In the course of a short time the poison commenced to pervade her frame ; she sank helpless to the floor, seized with frightful spasmodic pains, cramp, and other “ unmistakeable symptoms ” of phosphorus poisoning, to the great horror and consternation of relatives, whom her cries and groans had brought to her room. Medical aid was hastily summoned. After administering some general remedies, the doctor inquired for the box whence the matches had been taken, in order that he might form an idea of the quantity of poison that had been swallowed. Upon examination he discovered that the matches were of Swedish manufacture, and