HYDROPHOBIA

(Gr. Uwp, and (boSeopat, I fear.) A disease remarkably characterized by alarm at the approach of water, and caused by the bite of a mad dog or other rabid animal; but it does not appear capable of being communicated by the human subject. At some indefinite period after the bite, and often long after all local injury has healed, itching and pain in the bitten part, heavinese, great restle ne and uneasine , and mental alarm ensue, followed by pains about the neck, sense of choking, and great irritability and horror at any attempt to drink, although solid food can generally be swallowed. Fever, vomiting, exce ive thirst, spitting of viscid saliva, and difficult respiration then come on, with irregular pulse and convulsions, under which the sufferer sinks more or le rapidly, according to the strength of his constitution. Delirium sometimes precedes death, but not always; in many instances the judgment appears unaffected. It unfortunately happens that nothing in the way of cure, and little even as ' palliation, has been succe fully effected in this disease; but there appears little doubt that the timely application of preventive measures has been succe ful, and of these the amputation or excision of the bitten part, and the application of caustics to it, or both united, are most to be relied on; and the sooner they are resorted to, the better the chance of succe ; but it appears that they may be effective any time before the appearance of symptoms. Among caustics, the nitric acid is perhaps the most effective. It energetically acts upon and decomposes all animal matter, and fluids more especially; and if applied very soon after the bite, can scarcely fail to be effective: it also penetrates the wound, and forms a sloughing sore. The appearance Df madne in dogs, in its early stages at least, is unfortuaately not very well defined, nor always easily distinguishable from their other maladies: whether the bite is le dangerous before they become evidently rabid than afterwards, seems to be doubtful. In general, the animal is observed to be unusually dull and unsociable, refuses food, hangs his head, and appears drowsy: he flies at strangers, but usually recognises his master, though with great comparative indifference. Afterwards his breathing is quick and heavy; frothy matter runs from his mouth; he walks slowly, but occasionally runs and starts forward; at length he forgets his master, often falls down, flies at everybody In his way, grows furious, and in four-and-twenty or thirty hours dies. HYDROPHYLLACEjE. (Hydrophyllum, one of the genera.) A natural order of herbaceous Exogens, inhabiting America; very near to Boraginacem, from which they are known by their one-celled, many-seeded fruit, and many other characters. Some Pole mon i ace a have the habit of this order. Some of the species of Eutoca and Phacclia are cultivated on account of their pretty flowers. [s. 592]