NOTE: - 92 -

54. It is confirmed by experience [that] from the bite of a rabid dog, or wolf, or other wild beast, the same [affliction] also befalls a person

CHAPTER XII. On Hydrophobia [lit. Water-Fear], or the Bite of a Rabid Dog.*

52. One must endeavor quickly to diminish the harmful power of the poison; therefore, cauterize the bitten place with a hot iron, or apply cupping, then scarify deeply with a lancet, and in half a *t'ungi* of water mix five *mskhal* of sal ammoniac or salt, so that it dissolves well, and wash [it] frequently therewith, that it may quickly suppurate and become cleansed. Thereafter, for up to twenty days, you must apply an ointment upon it and keep [the wound] open (see number 82), so that it may be well cleansed. But into this ointment there must be mixed half a *mskhal* of crushed cantharides (Spanish fly), or crushed black pepper. 55. In general, experience has confirmed the usefulness of olive oil for cutting [off] the harmful poison; therefore, it is necessary to administer [it] to drink four times a day, one spoonful each [time]; and wherever olive oil is not to be found, they may also use freshly extracted linseed oil; and if they gently rub or smear the parts around the bitten place with warm oil, it will bring great benefit. It will be even better if, three times a day, they also rub camphor oil over the whole body. For drinking, they must give, three times a day, camphor [in a dose] the size of a chickpea each [time], and make [the patient] drink mallow or elder tea over it, and keep [the patient] supplied with warming drink[s] and food. If he should have costiveness, an enema must be administered.

NOTE: *) A rabid dog loses its senses, has no appetite, [and] fears water and all glittering things; it wanders about disgusted and as though bewildered, with its tail and ears drooping down; saliva (foam) runs from its mouth, its eyes fill with blood, and as the illness intensifies, it seeks out a cool and dark place. Yet still it does not rest; instantly it leaps up, runs hurriedly as if frightened, and at this time its madness intensifies exceedingly; whomever it meets, it leaps upon and bites. Madness in a dog occurs during the intensely hot days of summer. When a dog bites