An essay on the disease produced by the bite of a mad dog, or other rabid animal. .
London: C. Dilly, 1793. 8vo. xvi, 179 pp. SECOND EDITION. Half calf and marbled boards; spine rubbed and both inner hinges cracked but otherwise in very good condition. Item #19481
Second edition, though much enlarged from a first printing as a dissertation the prior year in Philadelphia. By the late eighteenth century, doctors and scientists were still trying to pinpoint the exact cause of rabies, which had been known since around 2000 BC. Ancient Mesopotamian laws dictated that the owner of a dog showing symptoms of rabies should take preventive measures against bites. If another person were bitten by a rabid dog and later died, the owner was heavily fined. Some physicians believed that rabies developed spontaneously due to exposure to extreme heat or a lack of water. Others asserted more outlandish theories—perhaps rabies was caused by a worm that could be found under the tongue of the inflicted. The Roman physician Celsus correctly suggested that rabies was transmitted by the saliva of the biting animal. He incorrectly suggested a cure for rabies by holding the victim under water. Those that didn’t drown died of rabies. Other cures for rabies included burning the wounds with a hot poker and laying hair of the rabid dog on the wound or ingesting by the patient. Madstones, or calcified hairballs found in the stomachs of cows, goats and deer were thought to have curative powers by drawing the madness out of the bite wound. Abraham Lincoln is reported to have transported his son, Robert, from Springfield, Illinois to Terre Haute, Indiana for madstone treatment in 1849 after being bitten by a rabid dog. Robert survived.
It was not uncommon for a person bitten by a dog merely suspected of being rabid to commit suicide or to be killed by others. Mease surveys these conjectures but confirmed that the disease is caused by contact with the saliva of a rabid dog. In his preface, Mease says that he decided to write this book to combat the proliferation of quack rabies remedies. This book showcases the early development of the study and treatment of rabies. Despite the robust international discourse about the disease, the rabies vaccine would not be developed until 1885.
This edition includes a preface and appendix added by Lettsom (1744-1815), English physician and the founder of the Medical Society of London. The appendix includes lectures, studies, and correspondence on rabies by Lettsom and other English physicians. In his preface to this edition, Lettsom says, “The great importance of the subject of discussion, and the ingenious and practical manner in which the author has elucidated it, induce me to think it worthy of republication.”
Mease (1771-1846) was an American doctor and scientist. While he published several books on medicine, geography, and agriculture throughout his life, he is best-known today as the inventor of tomato-based ketchup.
Eimas, Heirs of Hippocrates, 1263 (for the dissertation).
Price: $950.00