As there have apparently been a great number of cases
of hydrophobia lately, and there is at present certainly no known remedy, or even supposed remedy for that awful disease, it is worth mentioning that Mr. Laporte writes to Tuesday's Tinsel from Birkdale Park, Southport, to describe a case, dating from three years back, in which a Coolie bitten by a mad dog was cured, sixty days after the bite, and apparently in the worst spasms of that frightful malady, by having an infusion of datura stramonium, —the same leaves which asthmatic patients smoke for their asthma,—administered to him. A handful of the leaves were boiled in a pint of water, till they had shrunk to one-half their original bulk, and the water when strained off was poured down his throat. After a violent paroxysm, a profuse perspiration came on,—the coolie then sank into a deep sleep, which lasted eight hours, and when he awoke there was no sign 'of the disease. The cure, Mr. Laporte thinks, was due to the perspira- tion, as in another case which he saw previous to the period of this case, the chief symptom, Which vapour-baths were in vain tried to cure, was the excessively parched and dry condition of the akin. It would be at least worth while for our medical men to try any alleged remedy for a disease which is at present supposed to be incurable.
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