&l*±  (W-L)
 ~~~  REPORT
CASE  OE  HYDROPHOBIA.
EXTRACTED FROM THE
REPORT OP T. W. BLATCHFORD, M. D.,
IN TRANSACTIONS OP THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION,
FOR THE YEAR 1856.
       WITH AN  APPENDIX,

CONTAINING THE REPORT OP A COMMITTEE OF CITIZENS OP LANCASTER, PA.,
     ON THE EFFICACY OP STOY'S CURE FOR HYDROPHOBIA.
J
BY
■■*■- it j.. ,
WASHINGTON L. ATLEE, M. D.,2^2^
OF PHILADELPHIA.
        PHILADELPHIA:
T. K. AND P. a. COLLINS, PRINTERS.
              1856. 
* ♦
Ji
A
 
  The following case of Hydrophobia, at the time of its occurrence,
excited the most intense interest throughout the whole community
of Lancaster.  Even after the death of the unfortunate victim, the
excitement continued for some time, in consequence of a statement
that Stoy's remedy had been used in this case, and had failed.  The
family of Stoy formerly belonged to Lancaster, and this remedy for
Hydrophobia was, by many, considered infallible.  Hence a state-
ment of this kind, authorized  by a regular member of the profes-
sion, was considered as an attack upon the character of a celebrated
remedy, whose preparation was kept a secret by the family; and as
this disease had  baffled the skill of the faculty, the citizens of Lan-
caster took up the defence of this medicine with commendable spirit
and energy.  The current  of feeling was so strong, that several of
my friends insisted on my recalling the  statement, fearing that it
would  result to my injury.  Of course,  as a truthful  historian, re-
porting the words of the patient herself, I rejected the proposition,
and afterwards published a very detailed account of the case in the
newspapers, repeating the objectionable  statement over my own
name.  This by no means lessened the excitement.  A town meet-
ing was called, and numerously attended.  A committee was "ap-
pointed to investigate the late Hydrophobia case, and to test the
efficacy of Stoy's Medicine."  This committee consisted  of highly re-
spectable  citizens,  who  conducted the investigation with great
industry and zeal.  Their  report is given in the Appendix,  and
although the spirit of that report indicates that everything favor-
able was said of Stoy's remedy that could be stated, yet  the facts
adduced afford only negative testimony of its value as & prophylactic,
and no evidence at all  of its virtue as a remedy.  Even the case of
Mr. Hardman's daughter, and that of Mr. Middleton, the only cases
offered by the committee as instances of  cure, must be considered
valueless,  because they are very loosely reported  by non-profes-
               / 
4
sional  observers, and have no symptoms differing from ordinary
disease as daily met with in practice.  However convincing such
an array of facts might prove to the general mind, the medical and
philosophic  inquirer can discover nothing in them upon which to
build a hope.
  To show  the great interest manifested in  the case, I have also
placed in the Appendix, extracts from several  of the newspapers
which  noticed it at the time.
  As expressive of my views in regard to publications of this kind
in the  newspapers, I copy the following note, which was sent to the
editor, with  the history of the case:—

                                    " Lancaster, February 20, 1839.
" Mr. Middleton—
  "Dear Sir: At your particular  request, I herewith send you a
detailed  account of  the  symptoms  and treatment of the case of
Hydrophobia, which recently occurred in this city.  In doing this,
I do not wish to be understood as approving of this method of pub-
lishing, or recording cases of  disease.  Medical  men have their
medical  journals,  through which their  communications  can  be
offered to the members  of the medical profession, to whom they
properly belong.  Nor would I have consented, had  I not known
the exciting interest that  is felt in all classes of the community, by
the occurrence of this frightful disease, and  in consequence  of this
excitement, the  tendency there is to magnify and falsify the circum-
stances attending the progress of the case.  The  strongest  induce-
ment, however, for consenting to adopt this method in making this
case public, is to bring it  more particularly before the medical prac-
titioners of our  own county, who, as the guardians of the health of
our  community, can have the benefit of the history of this case,
should such  a misfortune  occur again in any part of our county.  I
shall avoid, as much as I  can with propriety, the use of those terms
not capable of being understood by the common reader." 
CASE   OF  HYDROPHOBIA.
  On Saturday, the 9th Feb., 1839,1 was called upon to visit Mrs.
Elizabeth Keely.   I found my patient to be an intelligent-looking
woman, of spare  habits, of ordinary stature, and  about 34 }7ears
old.   She told  me that she had  an attack of rheumatism in her
arm, and complained of pain the whole extent of her left arm,
particularly in  the shoulder.  She informed  me that she had felt
unwell for three  or  four weeks  before, and  that on  Wednesday
previous she had perceived some soreness on the back of the hand,
which, continuing  to  increase, had travelled  up to  her elbow on
Thursday, and, becoming more and  more severe, had on Friday
reached the shoulder.  During the progress of the pain, having
received a phial of British  oil from a neighbor, she rubbed it on
her arm without receiving any relief.  She then, of her own accord,
applied a blister on the outside of her arm just below the shoulder,
with no  better success.   On Saturday, the pain becoming worse,
and advancing into the left side of the neck, and through the arm-
pit  into the left breast, she thought it advisable to consult a physi-
cian, and I was sent for.
  I found the symptoms as above described, with the pain more
acute in the joints than in any other part of the arm, taking on the
character of the local  symptoms of acute rheumatism.   Her coun-
tenance was somewhat anxious, and  her manner  a  little hurried.
The tongue was  lightly coated with a  yellowish fur; the pulse,
skin, and other perceptible functions  being natural.   I prescribed
a blister to be placed  on  the spine between the shoulders, and
four cathartic  pills,  composed  of submur. hydrar., aloe socotor.,
convol. jalap.,  stalagm. cambog., sapo. castil., to be taken im-
       2 
6
mediately.   Upon taking leave of her, I directed her to send me
word in the morning if she was not better, or sooner if she became
worse.
   On Sunday morning, the 10th inst., word came that she was no
better.  At 9| o'clock A. M., I visited  her, and was  informed by
her husband that she had passed  a bad night.  Shortly after she
had retired to bed, she was aroused by a sense of suffocation, and
tightness of the chest, with pain in the praecordia, or  at the  lower
part of the breast-bone.   After this  she could not sleep.  Every
few minutes throughout the night she would suddenly start  up
with  a wild and  anxious countenance, a sensation of smothering,
and with feelings of great distress.   On attempting to drink, she
discovered  that she could  not swallow, and that  every attempt
excited spasms in  her throat, and aggravated these distressful symp-
toms.  Her peculiar situation  alarmed Mr. Keely very much, and
he was on the point of starting for me several times in the night, but,
through  fear of causing  too  much  trouble, he did  not inform me
until  morning.  At the time I was there, she had  become rather
more  calm  and easy, though I observed occasionally a slight spas-
modic action of her throat, and some hurry of speech.   She picked
up a  bottle of  spirits of camphor  off the stove and smelt it, and
immediately she was seized with slight spasms of the  chest and
neck.  On repeating it, the same results followed, when  she gave the
bottle to her little daughter, telling her to take it away.  There was
a wildness and  an impatience depicted in her countenance during
these  spells totally different from anything I had ever  observed in
other spasmodic affections.  Even after  these spasms were off, she
had an expression  of anxiety, and  complained of great pain and
soreness of the praecordia, and weight on her breast, with an inability
to swallow  anything.  The most distressing symptom was the  pain
in the praecordia.   The blister had drawn well, but, instead of being
placed over the spine, it had been applied  midway between the
shoulder and spine; and the pills had operated freely.  Her tongue
was still coated with a yellowish fur, and her pulse free from excite-
ment.  The pain  in the  arm was entirely gone, excepting a  little
uneasiness she experienced in the shoulder.
  It was during  this visit that I  was first informed  that she had
been bitten by a mad dog.  She then resided  in Philadelphia, and
while walking along the street a dog rushed out and bit her in the
back of the left arm, causing an extensive lacerated wound extend- 
7
 ing down to the sinews.  After going home she returned to the
 place where she received  the  injury to ascertain  the condition of
 the dog, and discovered that he had been chained up for mad, and
 had just broken loose as she was passing by, and bit her and several
 others, and that he had afterwards been killed.  She  immediately
 consulted Dr. Pennypacker, of Philadelphia, who ordered her to
 soak the wound in salt water,  and afterwards to apply to it a salt
 poultice.   This was on Saturday the 3d of November last.  On
 Monday following she called on Dr. George McClellan, who was not
 at home.  On her way home she called at the house of a friend, who
 advised her to employ Stoy's cure.   They informed her that about
 eighteen  years  before  two of  their  children had been bitten by a
 mad dog, and the attack of hydrophobia was prevented by taking
 Stoy's medicine.  They procured the medicine for her, and she went
 through a full and regular course of it, commencing on that day.
 The medicine had the effect of  producing copious vomiting on the
 two first days that she took it, but  not afterwards.  Shortly after
 adopting  these  precautionary  measures,  the  family  removed to
 Lancaster; since their removal to  this place, she enjoyed good health
 until about three or four weeks ago, from which time, until the
 period of her attack, she said she " was not very well."   The wound
 had healed  up well, but the scar  always remained tender and livid,
 and she frequently felt a numbness in her arm  accompanied by a
 sensation  best understood by the term " asleep."
   After giving me  this history of herself,  she  said she did not
 believe her present  sickness proceeded from the bite of the dog.
 Knowing the powerful influence that the mind exerts upon disease
 of this character, I encouraged  her in this idea, and was careful, in
 directing  my inquiries to her, to avoid exciting in her any suspicion
 that I  believed  it.  Although  apprehensive of the nature of her
 disease, and strongly desirous  of employing  certain means of con-
 firming my opinion, I cautiously avoided everything that would
 lead her mind to a different result. I think, however, that, although
 she openly discarded the idea  that her illness proceeded from the
 bite of the dog, her manner disclosed  that she secretly believed that
 to be the cause.  I  prescribed a combination  of submur. hydrar.,
 pulver. ipecac, aa grs. v., to be taken every two hours.
  Upon my way home  I met my brother, Dr.  John L. Atlee, and
told him  my fears respecting my patient, requesting him to  hold
himself in readiness to visit her in company with me, in  case I was 
8
 more fully convinced of the character of the disease upon my next
 visit.
   At one o'clock P. M. of the same day, I visited her again.  She
 received me tranquilly, and expressed herself glad to see me.  Her
 symptoms were now more distressing than they were before.  She
 had a more wild and anxious look; her breathing was accompanied
 with a short convulsive sobbing inspiration; and the spasms of the
 chest and  throat were more  violent, and came on spontaneously
 every few minutes.   There was no febrile excitement.  Her tongue,
 pulse, and skin continued the same.   I examined the wound par-
 ticularly.  It still retained its  livid appearance, but  it was entirely
 free from tenderness.   She had taken one dose only of the medicine
 and that with  the  greatest  pain  and difficulty,  and accompanied
 with violent spasm.   She  said  it  almost choked  her when she
 attempted  to swallow  it.  A short time after she had  taken this
 powder, sickness of the stomach came on, and she vomited three or
 four successive times, ejecting a quantity of slime.  During the
 last act of  vomiting from this powder, she threw off a considerable
 portion of blood.   In consequence of the distress and difficulty
 produced by taking this  first powder, she had desisted from the
 attempt of  taking  any more, although she said  she felt relieved
 after she  had vomited.  Her attention was now directed to her
 power of swallowing.  She said she could not swallow.   In reply
 to my several queries, she observed that she could not explain the
 reason of her difficulty to swallow;  her throat was not sore; she
 could not say that she had any dread of fluids; she was willing and
 desirous  of taking  them;  yet, whenever she attempted it, she was
 seized with an intense sense of smothering and spasm of  the throat
 which she could not control.  Upon expressing my desire that she
 should overcome this spasmodic action of the throat by a strong
 effort of her mind, she replied, " Well, Doctor,  I will try."  She
 then took a cup containing  a little toast-water off the  stove, and
 clearing out her throat, she prepared herself for drinking.  I now
 watched her with the most intense anxiety.   She carried the cup
 half way up to  her  mouth, then stopped.   Her countenance at this
 time was most peculiar and indescribable. Her  features were set
 fixed.  It appeared  as if the energies of  her mind were concentrat-
ing themselves  for some dreadful effort.  She carried the cup near
 to her  mouth, then stopped  again.  I could observe, on  her fixed
 and determined countenance, a commingling  of  much  excitement 
9
and alarm.  / could there read the  unconquerable  dread of a fluid.
She put the cup to her lips—and at once the horrors of hydropho-
bia burst upon me.   I shudder even now at the recital—but it
cannot be described—it must be  seen.  The  cup had no sooner
touched her lips than she was thrown into violent spasms.  First, a
sudden, quick, convulsive inspiration, accompanied by a noise as if
the air was drawn forcibly through a very narrow chink, violent
contraction of the muscles of the neck and face, and drawing up of
the shoulders and  breast, and great retraction of the pit of the
stomach  and  abdomen.  The skin  of the throat in  front  of the
larynx was corrugated by spasm.  Her countenance expressed the
greatest anxiety and distress, ..nd her body was thrown forward by
the spasmodic action.  This dreadful agony lasted about  half a
minute.   As soon as it was over, she said: " Doctor, I will try it
again."   Precisely the same scene  followed.   Again  she tried it,
and succeeded in getting about a teaspoonful  in her mouth.  Now
making two or three efforts at deglutition without avail, with  one
desperate effort she swallowed it.
   It must be at once perceived that my patient was a woman of
extraordinary resolution and firmness, and knowing this, I  urged
her to take her powders regularly in spite of the difficulty.  She
said, " Doctor, I suffer very much from the attempt; but I will take
them."  Her husband remarked to me that he believed her illness
proceeded from the bite of the dog.   She replied, " No; it's rheuma-
tism ; I'll soon be better of the spasms."  Although  she seemed
unwilling to permit her mind to believe  it, yet  I think she  was
perfectly conscious of the truth of her husband's opinion.
   After ordering a continuance of the medicine already prescribed,
and the application of a large blister along the course  of the spine,
commencing at the nape of the neck, I left her.
   At 3| o'clock P. M., I visited her in consultation with my brother,
Dr. John L. Atlee.   The introduction of my brother produced no
unusual  agitation.  She appeared glad to see us, and was quite
observant of the common courtesies of life, getting up and offering
us chairs, and requesting us to be seated.   She  had taken another
powder, but with great difficulty.   This was  succeeded by vomit-
ing a large quantity of yellowish-green  slime, and  some blood,
which  entirely relieved her of the  pain in the praecordia.   Since
the vomiting  had ceased, there had been no recurrence  of  the
spasms, unless she  attempted to drink, and  then they were  less 
10
violent.  She expressed herself much better, and perfectly free from
pain.   The stricture and weight on her chest diminished, and there
was less anxiety of the countenance.  No febrile excitement—pulse
in an upright position was 84;  in a recumbent posture, 72  in  the
minute.  The fauces or throat  was free  from irritation, except a
narrow stripe of red  on the edge of the right palatine arch, which
appeared more like mere engorgement of the capillary vessels than
inflammation.   She had no soreness or pain in the throat.   There
was some tenderness, particularly during spasm, in both sides of
the neck immediately below the mastoid process.  There was no
tonic rigidity of the  muscles of the neck as occurs in tetanus or
lock-jaw, and even during the paroxysms of spasm, the tension was
confined to the respiratory muscles.  We offered her different kinds
of drink, all of which were followed by spasms, less  violent, how-
ever, than before.  Cold drink caused  stronger spasms than warm
did.  In  consequence of the  blister having been applied much
lower  down than had  been  ordered, and with a view, also,  of  ex-
tending the decorticated surfaces for  the purpose of introducing
medicines into the system by means of the endermic practice, we
ordered another blister over the back of the  neck.  Applied 1 gr. of
acetate of morphia sprinkled on simple cerate to the blister on  the
shoulder  blade.   After administering  another powder, which  she
swallowed with less difficulty, we left her.
   At 6 o'clock  P. M. information  was received  that  she was no
worse.
   At 8£ o'clock  P.  M. we saw her  again.  The change  for  the
better  was quite evident on our first entering the room.  Both she
and her husband  expressed their gratification at her manifest  im-
provement.   She had  had  no spontaneous spasms since our  last
visit, excepting one,  and that came on while lying down.  I would
observe here that there was always a much  stronger tendency to
spasms when in a recumbent posture.  Her spirits were much  im-
proved, and her countenance less anxious.   The spasms caused by
drinking were much  lighter.  There was no pain in the praecordia,
and the skin was soft and moist, and pulse 90.  The powder we  had
administered at our last visit produced vomiting of the same kind
of fluid without blood.  She  had taken another dose of it, about
an hour  before, which had not been  followed  by vomiting.   She
said she felt drowsy,  and thought she could  sleep.   On handing her
a piece of toast and requesting her to eat, she took a small bite, 
11
chewed it and swallowed it with tolerable ease, and  repeated it two
or three times.  Observing that it was rather dry, we offered her a
drink,  but as soon as she placed it to her mouth, the spasms super-
vened, though less violent than before.   Toast soaked in water could
also be eaten in  small bits without spasms.   She tried to  drink
repeatedly, and succeeded in getting a little down, and it was always
attended with spasm.  Noticing that the spasm  commenced just at
the moment she attempted to draw in the drink into her mouth, we
suggested to her another plan: to open her mouth wide, permit us
to lay  a teaspoon filled with water full in her mouth, then close her
lips and refrain from sucking it cut of the spoon.  Having done
this, and then emptying the spoon by inverting it, it was followed
by a much lighter spasm than when drank from a cup.  In drink-
ing with a quill also, her  spasms were weaker.   It appeared as if
the wetting of the lips and the effort of sucking in the fluid favored
the production of the spasm.  Ordered the blister to be  dressed
with basilicon  ointment, and prescribed Submur. hydrar. grs. x;
Pulv. ipecac, grs. iiss.
   On Monday,  February 11th, 8 o'clock A. M., I visited her alone.
She informed me that she had altogether during the night  about
one hour's unsound sleep, and more in the early part of the evening
than afterwards.  She was not  able to drink all night, she  could
not swallow, and thinks her spasms, on attempting to drink, were
stronger and of longer continuance.  She endeavored to get  down
some drink by  soaking it up with toast, but she could not.  During
the night, two  spasms  came  on spontaneously while lying down.
She said she was very bad  early this morning; she experienced
feelings of intense distress, and was  thrown into spasms whenever
the door was opened and admitted the  cold air; felt her spirits give
way, and her thirst was extreme.  At  this  time she felt the spasms
working in her, every four or five minutes, although they did not
break  out,  producing  great agony.   She continued in this way
until she made  several desperate efforts to drink some warm coffee,
which  she succeeded in forcing into her by means of a quill, to the
amount of  nearly  half a  pint.  This was the largest quantity of
fluid she had taken  since the spasms commenced, and it had quite
a  tranquillizing effect  upon  her, causing the great anxiety and
distress to diminish.  After this  she washed  her face with a cam-
phor rag, and while doing it was affected with  spasm.   Although
she expressed herself much better than she had been earlier in the 
12
morning, I noticed more anxiety and wildness in her countenance
than the evening before.  Her pulse was not quite so full, the skin
rather  below the natural  temperature, the tongue  more thickly
coated with the same kind of fur, the breathing seemed rather more
difficult,  and was interrupted  by  peculiar sobs and deep  sighs.
While I was there, she picked up a cold handkerchief to wipe her
mouth, and  it brought on spasm  as soon as it  touched her face.
She had taken two powders after we had left her last night,  which
produced vomiting of a yellowish,  bitter and frothy fluid, and some
blood; but she postponed taking any more after 12  o'clock  in the
night,  in consequence of the great difficulty she experienced in
swallowing  them, and the  sickness they produced, although she
admitted that she was  always relieved after vomiting. The blisters
had drawn well; the cuticle being raised  throughout their whole
extent.   I gave her another powder rubbed  up in  sugar, which,
with the aid of coffee and the quill, she succeeded in  getting down,
not, however, without considerable difficulty.
   At 11  o'clock A. M. visited her with my brother.   Her skin was
of the natural temperature and moisture, pulse fuller, tongue the
same, and countenance less anxious.  She had had no spontaneous
spasms since; they still  came  on, however, on every attempt to
drink.  She complained that the  heat of the  stove  sickened  her,
but she could  not bear the doors  open.   On  attempting to drink
some coffee with a quill, she was thrown into  a violent spasm, and
succeeded in swallowing  only a little.  The powder which  I  had
given her at my last visit caused her to throw off the same kind of
fluid, and a  living lumbricus.  We examined  the blister that had
been dressed yesterday by the morphia, and the morphia appeared
to be absorbed.  The  fresh blistered surface on the  neck was  now
dressed with acetate of morphia, and, upon applying the  cerate cold
to the  blister, it produced  a paroxysm.  Her bowels not having
been moved since Saturday, we  prescribed,  in the form  of  pill,
Oleum tiglii, gtt. ij, every hour until the desired effect would be
produced.
   At 3  o'clock P. M. visited her  in company with Dr. E. Parry.
Her symptoms were about  the same;  pulse  88.  She  had taken
only two doses of the oil, and without  effect.  Gave her another
dose, which she  swallowed with difficulty.  When taking some tea
after it, she  was thrown into severe spasms, and said  she did not like
to see drink come near her.   Uniformly in taking drink she would 
13
hesitate, as before described, several times before she would  place
the cup to  her lips, and as soon as she  attempted  to suck in the
fluid, the spasms would commence.  She had got into a doze about
an  hour  before, and was awakened by her son suddenly entering
the room, which produced a violent paroxysm.  Applied morphia
again to a blistered surface.
  At 6  o'clock P. M., received word  that she was no better, and
that the medicine had not operated.
  At 8 o'clock P. M., called again, with my brother and Mr. Lan-
dis, a student.  Her pulse was 90 ; skin and countenance the same.
The lower gums  and the sides of the tongue appeared excited,
resembling the mercurial blush, but it was not attended with the
coppery taste and mercurial odor.  She had had several very severe
spasms from cool air coming over her face, and also from her attempts
to drink.   She got a most violent spasm when the family were  at
supper, caused by the noise of pouring out tea.  This spasm raised
her  off her seat, and was accompanied with a peculiar spasmodic
noise, great horror of countenance, and a throwing  of the hands
about.  We now spread 30 grs. of submur. hydrar. on a small piece
of bread, part of which she ate without difficulty, complaining of it
being  very dry.   We offered her drink, but  she  did not appear
to want the cup;  she  took the quill out of the drink, and hastily
drew the wetted end  through her mouth, thus catching  a  drop.
This was followed by light  spasm.  We then advised  her to dip
the bread in tea to moisten it, but she did not seem inclined to do
it.   Observing  her dread of the fluid,  1 dipped it in for  her,  when
she  ate it.  She  said  she  had dozed a little, and she thought she
could doze more through the night. She had  taken since the last
visit two doses  more of the oleum tiglii, making in all  10 gtt.,
without  any effect.   Prescribed submur. hydrarg. grs.  xv,  pulv.
ipecac, grs. iij, to be taken every three hours during the night.
  On Tuesday, February 12th, at one o'clock A. M., I was called
up by a  messenger, telling me that Mrs.  Keely was much worse,
and that  I should hurry over.   When I arrived there, Mr. Keely
informed me that, while he was lying dozing on a chair, she alarmed
him very much by suddenly starting up, and flying across the room,
with wildness and impatience, towards the front door.   He asked
her what was the  matter, and she replied she wished to lock the
door, and then  as suddenly rushed towards the back door.  Mr.
Keely said that, for a considerable time before this came on her, she 
14
had been engaged in prayer, and in hearing the Bible read, accord-
ing to her request, and that she expressed herself sensible of her
situation, and was anxious  to  prepare  herself for  the final result.
Before my arrival, and immediately after that spell, she had several
spasms more violent than at any time before.  She had  taken one
of the powders with great difficulty,  and in attempting to take an-
other, it brought on very severe paroxj^sms,  accompanied with ejectio
urinae.  When the spasms became so violent, she requested her
husband to tie her, no doubt fearing that in those  moments of
intense  agony she might injure some  one.  When I arrived, her
children were in the room with her.  She  said that before she got
so bad she had felt  extremely happy, and had her  children called
up around her, that she " felt as if she  could go," and spoke a long
time to her children and husband, as one taking an everlasting
farewell.  She told me she  felt  so much composed when her mind
was engaged in such reflections, and desired  that the Bible might
be read again.  I asked her whether I should read it for her, and
she assenting, I inquired what portion of the Scripture she preferred.
She replied: "The  52d  chapter of Isaiah."   I read that chapter
slowly and distinctly for  her, and when done, inquired if I should
read on.  She said:  " I am  afraid of tiring you ; but I would like to
hear more."   I then continued, and read eight or nine of the  suc-
ceeding chapters, asking her, at the end of every chapter, whether I
should  read on.  I  then observed that perhaps there were other
portions of Scripture she would like to have read.  She  replied:
" You are too kind; but  if you are not tired, I should like you to
read of the sufferings and  death of  our Saviour."  I then turned
over to Matthew and read for her. During all this time, she remained
perfectly composed and tranquil, although  her spasms had been so
violent before.  Shortly after this, my brother arrived.   Upon ask-
ing her to let  us  see  her tongue, she became greatly agitated ; her
countenance became wild and  suspicious; and with appearance of
great dread, she said " she  could not  bear the candle."  She was
sitting with her back turned towards the  candle, but she observed
my brother reaching for it, and, although the candle was not touched,
instantly she was thrown into the most violent paroxysm I had yet
seen.  Her head was thrown  about from  side to  side  in dreadful
anguish, and fearing that she might injure those who were holding
her, I placed  my hand upon her head  to secure her, but her agony
was very much increased, and she earnestly called out: " Take off 
15
your hand! take off your hand !"  My brother remained until 3
o'clock, at which time we gave  her pulv. ipecac, grs. xx, acetate of
morphia, gr. ss.
  She  hesitated for a long time before she took it, saying, "I can
take no more," and while preparing to give it to her, she appeared
violently agitated, and was seized with incessant spasmodic sobbings.
She at last consented to try it, but would not have it moistened; it
was mixed up with dry sugar, and she took it,  and  succeeded in
swallowing it  with great difficulty, but without much spasm.   I re-
mained with her until 4 o'clock, and during this time she had seve-
ral very severe paroxysms.  They sometimes would come on spon-
taneously ; others would be excited by walking through  the room,
and agitating  the  air.   Her dread of fluids was so great  that no
drink was offered  to her.  During these paroxysms, which lasted
from half to a whole minute, the inspirations and expirations were
quick and spasmodic, producing a singular sound by the concussion
of the sudden  ingress and egress of air, which, to a warm and pre-
possessed imagination,  might seem to  be a kind of barking.   This
no  doubt has  given rise to the vulgar idea that a barking like that
of a dog is one of the symptoms of hydrophobia.   The spasm gene-
rally commenced with a sudden, forcible, and spasmodic spitting, very
quickly repeated, resembling very much the spitting of an irritated
cat, and ended with a deep inspiration or sigh.  She frequently had
very sudden convulsive sobbing inspirations, sometimes only one,
at others two or three in rapid succession, and both in these and in
the spasms, her countenance  would get  much more  wild and
anxious.  Her skin was moist, pulse rather quicker, and she com-
plained more  of the heat of the room.  Prescribed a powder like
the last, to be  given every two hours.
  Before I took my leave of her this morning,  she seemed desirous
of knowing my opinion of the result of her case.  I  told  her that
her disease was one of  a very fatal character, but that we were not
entirely without hope;  that, in consequence of the manifest amend-
ment that had occurred in her symptoms, we  had good cause for
encouragement; and that, if her constitution was good and the treat-
ment persevered in, the disease  might  probably wear itself out, and
the system afterwards be restored to health.  She replied, she hoped
that it  might be so, but she expected a different result.  I informed
her that it was impossible for us to tell, at the  present stage of her
case, how her disease would terminate, yet, as there was great uncer- 
16
tainty, it would be better for her to prepare for the worst, and then,
in any event, she would be safe.   She assented to what I said, and
observed that she was  not fully prepared to  leave  this world, and
felt desirous of  conversing with some person concerning the salva-
tion of her soul; she said that, if her mind was fully prepared, she
was sure that in  her moments of ease  between  the  spasms, she
would feel  resigned, and consoled with the idea that when she left
this world of pain she would be happy in the other.  Upon asking
her whether she would  like to receive the visits of a clergyman, she
replied,  "Oh! yes, I would be  much pleased; but I am a stranger,
and know no clergyman."  I assured her that would make no differ-
ence;  that either of them would call to see her with pleasure; and
as she said that she belonged to the Presbyterian Church in Phila-
delphia, I would request the Rev.  Mr. Davie to see her.
   During this conversation, she was quite calm and collected, and
free from spasms.
   Before going home, I left two more powders like the last, to be
taken two hours apart.
   At  8 o'clock A. M., Mr.  Keely called and stated that the powder
we had  given her at 3 o'clock sickened her very much and pro-
duced some drowsiness, but no sleep.  The other powders she found
it impossible to take.
   At  9 J o'clock A. M., visited her again with my brother and
Messrs. Landis and Maxwell, medical students.  She had taken one
powder  this morning in her husband's absence.   She was pretty
much in the same situation as when we last left her, though she said
she was worse, and the spasms stronger.   The spasms appeared as
if they  were becoming more general, and they  were now  always
accompanied with that  peculiar noise.  There was yet no tonic or
tetanic rigidity of the muscles.  The action of the heart was rather
strong, and stronger than was  indicated  by the pulse at the wrist.
Prescribed a blister to the praecordia.
   At  11 o'clock A. M., I called upon  the Rev. Mr. Davie and  re-
quested him to accompany  me to see Mrs. Keely.  At the time we
entered  her room, the spasms were very strong, and she was suffer-
ing much  agony when I  introduced Mr.  Davie  to her.   Her
paroxysms were now more violent and frequent than before, accom-
panied with intense  anxiety and horror of countenance, spasmodic
noise, and an urgent desire for air, calling on those in the room to
open the doors.  During the spasms she requested those who held 
17
her to press strongly on the pit of the stomach.  She complained
of thirst, and desired to have something with which she could moist-
en her mouth.  She asked for coffee, but, as it approached her, she
was seized  with  strong  spasms; by repeated efforts,  however, she
drew in  a little through a quill, and succeeded in swallowing it^
Her respiration was frequently interrupted with convulsive sobSj
and she was often hawking up, and spitting out, as if phlegm was
always collecting in her throat.   She found it very difficult to speak,
not appearing to have full control over the organs of speech; it ap-
peared as if the attempt at speaking  produced a spasmodic restless-
ness of the  articulating muscles, which rendered it  painful for her
to speak. Becoming a little more composed, she apologized to Mr.
Davie for not being able to  converse with him, but said  she was
glad  to  see him.  He was engaged  with her in conversation and
prayer about half an hour, which had a most  tranquillizing effect
upon her.   During  the whole of this period she was remarkably
calm, and free from spasm, although  her paroxysms before and im-
mediately after were frequent and of the  most violent character.
It would appear, from this circumstance, as if the  exercise of the
mind in  this disease had some mysterious connection with the pro-
duction  of spasm;  for, as the paroxysms were entirely suspended
while the mind was engaged in this all-absorbing question, and as
they recurred  so soon as the mind was not thus exercised, it would
indicate  almost as  close a relation as  cause  and  effect.  The
members of the profession will at once observe the correspondence
between  this circumstance in this case, and a distinguishing feature
of chorea, viz:  the act of volition being necessary to the convulsive
movements.
  In consequence of the frequent occurrence of spasm, the  blister
was not applied to  the praecordia.   She, this morning, again
requested to be tied ; but as we found that she  could be managed
with  safety, we considered it unnecessary and forbade it.  Before
leaving her, I applied more morphia  to the blistered surface.
  At 2  o'clock P. M., called to see her again,  with  my  brother.
Her paroxysms had been frequent and strong  since our last visit.
She inquired of us whether  bleeding would not weaken her, as  if
she desired it to shorten her existence.  She said her "feelings were
awful; no one knew, and wished it was over."  She lamented about
her  children and husband—"that  was  her  only trouble,"  and
desired us to comfort Mr. Keely.  We attempted to give her another
powder, composed of submur. hydr.,  grs. xxx, pulv. ipecac, grs. v, 
18
spread on bread.  She ate about half of it, and after having chewed
it for a considerable time, she attempted to swallow it, but could
not, saying it was so dry that she could not get it to the right place
to swallow it.   Persevering, however,  with very strong efforts, she
succeeded in getting some down, and it was followed by  a most
violent paroxysm, raising her up on her feet, and producing, in the
violence of the struggle, the most wild  and despairing expression of
countenance.  During mastication, the tongue was frequently and
suddenly  protruded, appearing covered with a darker coat; and
her lips became encrusted with a dark-colored  matter.  There was
incessant hawking up of the phlegm which collected in her throat,
and spitting of it about the room.  She complained of great dryness
of the mouth,  but would  not moisten  it; and strongly opposed the
administration of more medicines, seeming to dread them.  Talking
was more and more difficult, and was  interrupted by spasms of the
throat, and  convulsive sobbings.  Pulse 100.   Prescribed  oleum
cajeputi, drachms ij, pulv. opii, drachm i, to be mixed and rubbed
in around the neck and breast.
   At 6 o'clock  P. M., visited with  Dr.  Hopkins and  Mr. Landis.
Found her in a state of very great nervous excitement, her manner
wild  and  hurried; would startle at the least noise or motion; had
great dread of candlelight, and the snuffing of the candle produced
great agitation ; incessant hawking, and vehement efforts to spit out
the frothy phlegm;  and  her face was turned away from those who
sat in front of her, as if she dreaded the brilliancy of their eyes, or
the effect of their breath on her face, which produced spasm.  When
the spasms came on her, she would call furiously for air—for the
doors to be open.  Delirium appeared  to be approaching.  She said
that Mr. Davie had been there in the  afternoon, and she had been
much comforted, and  that she now was " willing and ready to go."
In consequence of the vapor of the oleum cajeputi exciting spasm,
it was discontinued.
  At 8 o'clock  P. M., saw her again,  with  my  brother, Drs. Hop-
kins and  Kerfoot, and Messrs. Landis and Maxwell.  We entered
the room with  great caution and the utmost quietness, and although
her back was turned towards the door, and a large quilt, hung up,
intervened, she was instantly sensible  of the increased number in
the room, and was greatly agitated in consequence of it.  The nerv-
ous excitement and restlessness were extreme, her countenance was
marked with great  horror and dread, and whenever  she was the
least startled, it was characterized by unutterable anguish and terror. 
19
There was considerable delirium; the mind was wandering and
unsteady, ideas incoherent, and she was much more talkative.   She
referred several times to the mad dog—"Yes, it was the dog;" "I
know it was the mad dog."  And she would say: " Come, Mr. Keely,
let's take  a walk—let's go  to the door—let's go down stairs, Mr.
Keely—let's go to bed—let's go home," and  so on  in a wild and
impatient  strain.  We talked to her about bleeding her, and,  with-
out replying to us, she said wildly: " Shall I, Mr.  Keely ?  You
think I should, Mr. Keely ?"  She appeared to think that we were
going to injure her.  There was a constant hawking and spitting,
and her face was  turned down, and away from  us.  She  said she
could not  look any person in the face.  While in this  highly excited
state, she said to her husband: "Mr. Keely, I  want you to look me
right iu the face."  Her face being  turned downwards, and  from
him, he hesitated.  Again  she said: "Look  me in the face, Mr.
Keely."  He leaned over to look her in  the  face, and, as soon as
their eyes met, there was a simultaneous and frightful expression of
horror—the wild  anguish and terror in her countenance seemed to
startle  Mr. Keely, and he turned his head aside with strong marks
of horror  depicted upon his. All in the room appeared to feel the
shock.   We now succeeded in administering two grains of muriate of
morphia, and also  applied it over the blistered surface on the  neck.
Observing, heretofore, the tranquillizing effect which always followed
the taking of drink, we urged her to try and  swallow  some coffee.
She made repeated  efforts, with persevering firmness,  until she
accomplished her  object, which was followed by  a considerable
amendment of her symptoms.  She drank more and  more until she
got down altogether about half a teacupful.  In proportion as she
took her  drink, her wild,  nervous, and  delirious  state subsided.
She could now bear the full glare of the candle, and motion through
the room  produced much  less disturbance.  The  hawking  dimi-
nished, and there appeared to be an improvement in all her symptoms.
Expecting that the large dose of morphia she had taken might pro-
duce a desire for sleep, we  made a bed for her on  the floor, and,
after seating her on it, she appeared more  composed and rational.
After this, we  offered her more drink.  She  took the cup, leaned
over it, carrying her mouth towards the opposite side, and suddenly,
to our great surprise, lapped up a mouthful with her tongue.  This
was followed by very little spasm.  Her pulse was  115.   After
remaining with her until 10 o'clock P. M., and prescribing two grs. 
20
of muriate of morphia, every three hours, we left her in a much
more composed state of mind and body than we found her.
  During our visit this evening, we proposed to her the operation
of tracheotomy, but this was peremptorily refused by her husband.
So far back in my professional  life as I can recollect of being able
to form any opinion of this most  horrible disease, I  have always
thought  that this operation would be of invaluable benefit, and I
had  come  to the  determination of carrying it into effect the first
opportunity that offered.  This opinion is now firmly established by
all the phenomena of this unfortunate case.  Although  the proba-
bility is that the rapidity of  the muscular exhaustion, which super-
vened  upon this visit,  would have rendered the operation in this
instance aud at this stage of the disease, useless, yet I am fully con-
vinced that, if resorted to early in the attack, it would strip hydro-
phobia of its greatest horrors, if it did not cure it.  I would demand
it upon myself, if I should be thus afflicted.  The sp isms of the glottis,
the constriction of the chest,  the difficulty of deglutition, the sense
of suffocation, and the intense  anxiety and distress, would, in  my
opinion, vanish, and the administration of medicines  and the t iking
of drink would be rendered comparatively easy.  The operation is
a simple  one, and worthy of a  trial.   The  horrid  and incurable
character of hydrophobia demands the experiment.
  On Wednesday morning  the 13th inst.,  at 7 o'clock A. M., I
visited her alone.   I was informed that she had  about  one hours
repose shortly after we  left her last night, but the phlegm collecting
in her throat had  awakened  her, and she continued awake  during
the remainder of  the night.   She  took another two grain dose of
morphia  about 11 o'clock P.  M., and remained tolerably composed
until between 2 and 3 o'clock  this morning.  At 3 o'clock A. M.
she took  another powder of morphia, but this did not tranquillize
her, and  she continued to get worse until I  saw her.  During the
night she had swallowed three or four cups of coffee.  I found her
exceedingly nervous, and  nearly constantly in a  state of wild de-
lirium, and there was added  to the whole  look an appearance of
horror and despair exceeding anything I  had seen  either in mania
or any other kind of delirium.  She looked wildly and suspiciously
at every one entering her apartment, and believed that those around
her wished to  poison her, and kill her, and spoke about the opera-
tion.  She was very talkative, her thoughts run wild, passing from
one subject to another, sometimes serious and at other times sportive
and  humorous.  She spoke  also a great  deal about her children, 
21
and had a strong suspicion that "all was not right with them." She
would wildly cry out, "Where's  my  children?"   "Why  don't
Manassehcome?" "Where's Jackson?"  "Where's Louisa?" "Bring
them to me."   "Ah!  Keely!  I knew it! I knew it!"  "See, there
hangs Louisa's apron."  "Where's Jackson's shoes?  all's not right
with  them."  "Ah! Keely, I knew it!"  Again she  would break
out:  " Bring me my children, Keely! and if they kill me, let them
be killed  too, for I will not leave them here  to be knocked about
by strangers."  She wanted to go home—to go down  stairs—to
dress and take a walk—and  accused them of throwing handfuls
of fur and black stuff in her face, and said that the fur was sticking
in her mouth yet.  She got up several times on her feet, but would
sink  down again from weakness  and exhaustion.  Once she sud-
denly started  up and rushed  through  the kitchen  door, but was
immediately caught, and  she  sank down from the exertion.   She
succeeded  in swallowing a little  coffee, but was exceedingly sus-
picious of everything  offered  to  her, and would examine it over
and over again, before taking it.  She complained of the air being
loaded with fur, and of it coming  into her face.  The hawking was
still frequent, and she spit out a great  deal of the  frothy mucus.
Her pulse was  small,  weak, and frequent, between  130 and 140 in
a minute,  and  her extremities cold.  I observed that her bed had
been  much stained by the renal secretions  during the night.  Be-
fore leaving her I  administered another two grain dose of muriate
of  morphia, which after a short time was spit out again imbedded
in the froth.
   At 9| o'clock A. M., called with my brother and Messrs. Landis
and Maxwell.  We met the  Rev. Mr.  Davie there.   He informed
us that he had not been able to fix her  attention.  Her  mind was
exceedingly wandering and delirious, and very much as it had been
at my last visit.  She was rapidly sinking,  her hands and feet and
face were  cold, pulse  scarcely perceptible, and the  action of  the
heart very feeble.  There were no paroxysms of suffocation, some
spasmodic twitching, and copious expectoration of froth.   We now
gave her, at repeated intervals, about three ounces of wine, which
had no stimulating effect.  There now appeared to be a general relax-
ation  of the muscular  system, extending to the coats of the  intes-
tines—shifting of wind, and borborygmus, followed by copious and
frequent alvine discharges—the first that had occurred since  the
spasms had commenced.   Her children were now brought  in to
see her.  She looked at them awhile and said, " Take them away;
      3 
22
take them away."  About 11]  o'clock A.  M., she had the last
symptoms of a spasm, which,  though not violent, harassed her a
good deal.  She now drank a little more wine, and then I laid her
down upon the pillow, after which she never moved.   From this
period on to the moment of her death, the phenomena of her case
were  singularly peculiar.   Her  body having been  placed in  an
inclined position, her head was thrown back with her face directly
upwards.  Her mouth and eyes were open.  There was not the
least motion or disturbance of her countenance, no more action in
her bowels,  her pulse was lost, and there was not  a muscle or a
fibre  seen to  move, excepting those of respiration.  The whole
body and countenance seemed as passive as in death, and respira-
tion was more like a mechanical than a vital action.   She appeared
as dead, and was only disturbed by the ingress and egress of air
through the larynx.  The  depth of the inspirations became less and
less, until at last they were lost in the larynx. The breathing was clear;
there was no rattle in  the throat indicating the collection of mucus
in the air-vessels.   This  peculiar kind of  respiration continued
without interruption  for about one  hour, accompanied, at every
expiration, with a  very low moaning sound.  The breathing now
stopped, and all thought her dead; but in a few moments it com-
menced again, and went on as before.  Again it stopped, and again
commenced, and so on for  27 successive times, continuing until 1
o'clock P. M., when we looked  for its return, but in vain. The
moment  of  dissolution was not  indicated by any of the usual
evidences of  the  separation of soul and body.   She appeared to
experience nothing of the agonies of death.  Before, at the time of,
and after death, her appearance was precisely the same, and, at the
intervals of suspended respiration, life could not be distinguished.
  Throughout the  whole course of the disease, after the spasmodic
symptoms commenced, this unfortunate woman could  not bear,
except for a moment, a recumbent position.  She sat on a chair the
most  of  the time,  and after the  paroxysms  became violent, was
secured by a person  sitting in front of her having hold  of her
wrists.  There was not the least appearance of danger of her biting
any person near her;  nor among the variety  of motions which she
made was there any which  looked like attempting to  snap or bite at
anything within her reach; and  they who were about her  had no
apprehension of her doing so.
  1 have now  concluded  this  most  interesting case, and I have
gone  perhaps  more minutely into its details than  was required. 
23
But as you desired a particular account of the case, I was anxious
to give you a faithful history of it from beginning to end.   This I
was fully enabled to do, in consequence of taking notes of the case
immediately after every visit.  I am not conscious of having made
one misstatement, either  as respects her symptoms or treatment,
or as regards the history of her own  case as given to us by herself.
All as it came to my knowledge,  and  in a conscious spirit  of
candor, is now before the  public and profession, and if the latter
can discover anything in the treatment or recommendations that
can be avoided or adopted  to the benefit of the community  I shall
rejoice in the discovery.   It is most  ardently desired that the pro-
fession will be  soon able  to say to their  suffering patients,  in the
language of the 52d chapter of Isaiah, "Loose thyself from the bonds
of thy  neck, 0 captive daughter of Zion." 
 
APPENDIX.
            EXTRACTED FROM THE LANCASTER PAPERS.

                          Obituary.
  Died in this city, on Wednesday last, Mrs. Elizabeth Keely,
wife of Mr. Jacob Keely, aged 33 years.
  The melancholy circumstances connected with this  untimely
death are well known. Mrs. Keely was the victim of hydrophobia!
When the first symptoms of this horrible disease were manifested,
she endeavored, although hoping against hope, to  console herself
with the belief that her little family were not destined to become
motherless, nor her doting husband  cast upon the wide world—a
blighted, widowed heart!  But,  alas!  "who can control his fate?"
She soon found that the  portals of the dark valley were opened,
and that all that bound  her to the world, were to be left without
her protection.   Then it was that she gathered  consolation  from
the Bible,  and with a mysterious horror pervading every sense,
and an uncontrollable agony racking her limbs, she yet had cou-
rage, even amid her pain, to turn a placid countenance  upon her
Redeemer.  Her unexpected death has awakened  in every heart
the liveliest emotions of grief.
  The following general statement was drawn up by me  at the
request of the Editor. [W. L. A.] :—

                    Death by Hydrophobia.
  " We are called r.pon to announce the death of Mrs. Elizabeth
Keely, wife of Mr. Jacob Keely, of this city, who died yesterday,
the 13 th instant, of hydrophobia. 
26
   " We  are indebted to a friend for the following particulars of
 this distressing case: Mrs. Keely was attacked by a mad dog on
 Saturday, the 3d of November last, and bitten on the back of the
 hand, receiving an extensive lacerated wound, which penetrated to
 the sinews.   She immediately consulted a physician, who ordered
 her to soak her hand in salt water, and  afterwards to put on the
 wound a salt poultice.   Feeling apprehensive of the result, she on
 Monday following commenced the use of Stoy's cure, and passed
 through a full and regular course of that medicine.
   " Shortly after she had made use of these precautionary measures,
 the family removed from Philadelphia to Lancaster.  Since their
 removal to this place she enjoyed good health until about three or
 four weeks ago, from which time until the period of her  attack she
 said she ' was not very well.'   The wound had healed up well, but
 the scar always remained tender and livid.  On Wednesday evening,
 the 6th  inst., she felt soreness on the back of the hand around the
 wound.   On  Thursday  the soreness  proceeded  up her arm and
 reached her elbow.  On  Friday it had travelled up to her shoulder;
 when of her own accord she applied a  blister below her shoulder.
   " On Saturday, the pain in the arm being worse, and passing into
 the left breast and side of the neck, she sent for a physician, telling
 him, on his visiting her, that she ' had an attack of rheumatism in
 her arm.'   During  the early part of the following  night, the  pain
 left her  arm, and settled  at the lower part of her breast or pit of the
stomach.  Having  retired to bed  she was soon roused  from her
 sleep by a sense of great anxiety, and  stricture of the chest, with a
 sensation of smothering.
   " Thirst coming on she attempted  to drink, but found  she could
not swallow.   The distress, anxiety, restlessness and sense of suffo-
cation became  worse  until Sunday morning, when her  physician
was sent for.   Apprehending the true character of the disease, he
at once commenced a rigid course of treatment, which appeared to
hold the disease in check, and for a time produced manifest amend-
ment.
   " This hopeful state of things, however, was succeeded on Mon-
day night by symptoms indicating a rapid  advancement of the
disease.   The  spasms became  alarming, the sense of smothering
extreme, the horrors of countenance indescribable, and she fell into
a state of the greatest nervous irritability.  The  flickering  of a
candle, the disturbance  of the air in  the room by  walking, the
approach of  fluids  towards her, and  even  breathing on her  face 
27
brought on the most awful spasms.  She  continued in  this way
until Tuesday morning.
  " Throughout this day her  spasms were not quite so violent  as
the night before, although her system was becoming more nervous
and excitable.  Towards evening her mind  became wandering and
delirious, making it difficult to fix her attention.   Sometimes she
became almost frantic.    Near bedtime, however, she became more
composed,  and  enjoyed  a  short repose;  after which her  mind
became more and more  unsteady until  it  ran  into constant deli-
rium.
   " On Wednesday morning  she became  rapidly exhausted, and
sunk  into  entire insensibility  at half past  11 o'clock, from which
time she lay perfectly calm until 1 o'clock,  when her spirit  left its
earthly tenement!
   " During the last two days of her illness, she was visited repeat-
edly by a clergyman, whose conversation and prayers had a most
tranquillizing effect upon  her.  The objects of  this earth most
difficult to  part with, were  her three little  children; but these,  at
last, she said she was willing to give up.  There is every assurance
that she was (to use ber own  language) ' ready and willing to go'
to the regions of eternal bliss !"—Lancaster Ex.
                Distressing Death by Hydrophobia.
  Public feeling has been considerably excited during the past ten
days by a lamentable case of hydrophobia in this city, which ter-
minated on Wednesday last in the death of  its victim, Mrs. Eliza-
beth Keely, the wife of a respectable tailor, Mr. Jacob Keely, living
here, and the mother of an interesting family.  She was just thirty-
three years of age, and, during the visitation of this terrible malady,
realized, by her heroic fortitude, all that we are told of the firmness
of woman.  She is originally  from Philadelphia, in which city she
resided a number of years with her husband.  Early in November
last, previous to which Mr. Keely came to Lancaster, and was em-
ployed as a journeyman by Mr. Martin Bomberger, she was bitten
by a mad dog in Philadelphia, while taking her work one evening to
her employer.  She remained in Philadelphia four weeks after this,
in all of which time she resorted to but one remedy {not Stoy's medi-
cine, as it is erroneously stated by one of our city papers) which had
been recommended to her by a person who had resorted to it with 
28
success in a similar instance.  This medicine, she vainly believed,
had been as effectual in her own case, and she came to  Lancaster
in seemingly perfect  health, and in the highest  spirits, to join her
husband.   She  continued  to  enjoy  good  health  until the 7th
instant, when, for the first time, she complained of pain in the back
of her hand, where the wound was made.  In a short time it ex-
tended to her shoulder, when she applied a blister.  It may be well
to state that during all this time she continued  to do house-work,
which she  only relinquished on Friday evening, the 8th.   Might
not this exertion have hastened the calamity ?  On Saturday she
sent for a physician, and expressed an apprehension that she had
an attack of rheumatism.  From this  time the  pain continued  to
increase, although in more than one region of the body, and on the
evening of the same day, in attempting to drink water, she had the
first spasm.  Her  physician, Dr. W. L. Atlee,  adopted  the most
effectual measures  at once, and  with apparent benefit at first, but
the awful sequel proved only apparently.  He has won for  himself
much credit,  by his unremitting attention to his unfortunate
patient.
  On Monday evening, the disease  increased  in  violence, and
thenceforward the  horrid  symptoms  of hydrophobia, in its worst
stages, were manifest,   An eye-witness, one of her own attendants,
informs  us that the condition  of the  patient was alarming.  She
frothed very much, and her violent spasms seemed  like so many
attempts to dislocate her limbs, while her countenance was stamped
with the  intensity  of her agony.  She turned from water, or any
other liquid, with  horror; she was unable to remain quiet in the
bed;  she started up at the least noise;  and expressed an utter
loathing of food.   She alternated between  delirium and vacuity,
and on Tuesday evening seemed to have respite from her intense
sufferings, and became so far quieted as to obtain an hour's repose.
She awoke in much agitation, and soon became quite delirious.
  On Wednesday morning she  was quite exhausted.  She became
insensible at about  11 o'clock, and at 1 o'clock died.
  We have been induced to give this detailed account of  this unfor-
tunate affair, as well in justice to its importance, as to the husband
of the late Mrs. Keely, and in order to correct the already numerous
misstatements  which  have been made.  We have it from his own
lips, and can therefore vouch for its entire correctness.   There are
two points  that he wishes to be particularly  considered:  1st.  That 
29
Stoy's  Medicine was not used at all;  2d. That she did  not feel a
symptom of hydrophobia until the 7th of the present month.
                      A Painful Warning.
   The distressing death, which occurred the other day, adds another
to the  numerous  warnings, already  furnished, to guard  against
hydrophobia.  It is plain that the only way this can be done, is  to
exterminate  the cause—pass a law against  dogs—and render  it a
penal offence in any citizen who permits them to run at large.   So
long as our streets and alleys contain more  dogs than people, so
long will it be unsafe for a man to walk abroad, and we do hope
that some rigorous measure—general in its influence—will be at once
adopted to protect the lives of the  public.  We are not an enemy
to dogs, as  such;  but we sink all their supposed usefulness  in the
fact that they are liable to become maddened, and to infect rational
beings  with a terrible and incurable disease.  Look at  the  late
instance!   A wife  and  a parent—mother  of three  children—
withered away in her prime, and struck down, amid her own family!
Of how much more value was not  the  life of this woman than all
the dogs in the State ? and yet one of them poisoned the fountain of
her existence, and hurried her to a premature grave!
   The reflection is awful; and the indispensable necessity of resort-
ing to  immediate measures to check a repetition of this fell disaster,
forced upon us with  irresistible earnestness.  We hope the warning
will  not  have been vainly given.   We hope the  matter will be
attended to—and  that at once.   Walk along  the streets now, and,
wherever you look, your  eye encounters  one of the numberless
tribe of lazy, useless, and  quarrelsome dogs,  which infest every
town and village in the country.  We say—away with them.   We
shall not recommend the means.  Let that, however, be no scruple.
Only let  them be put out of the road of doing harm.  We shall
continue this subject.  A town meeting in reference to it will be
held to-night. 
30
            EXTRACTS FROM THE PHILADELPHIA PRESS.

                 Horrible Death by Hydrophobia.
  We learn that Mrs. Keely,  wife of John Keely, a tailor formerly
residing in this city, died  in Lancaster on Wednesday last, of that
fatal and horrible disease,  hydrophobia, communicated by a bite of
a dog in this city about four months since, before they  moved to
Lancaster.   She was bitten by a dog in the street while returning
home from  market  one morning, and apprehensive  that the dog
was in a rabid state  at the time, she has since the occurrence taken
such medicines as were recommended to  her as a remedy for the
disease.   A few days previous to her death the alarming symptoms
of the dreadful disease exhibited themselves, and the spasms con-
tinued to increase in violence  until 11 o'clock on Wednesday fore-
noon, when  she died, a victim of a criminal carelessness, probably
on the part of the owner of the dog, and of a non-enforcement of the
dog law.   Mrs. Keely has left a husband and three small children to
lament her  melancholy fate.   We are told  that towards the last
stages of the disease during her  lucid intervals, she was conscious
of her impending fate, and requested the attending physician to
save her from the suffering which awaited her by bleeding her to
death.  This was of course declined, but the  request shows the
horror and dread of those suffering with the disease, and her melan-
choly end reproaches, in tones of thunder, those owning do^-s run-
ning at large, contrary to law.
                          Mad Dogs.
  From the earnestness with which we have frequently called the
attention of our authorities to this subject, we have been considered
rabid by those who estimate the life of a worthless  cur as more
valuable than that of a human being.  We have recommended to
parents who have the least solicitude for their children, to kill off
with nux vomica the thousands of  dangerous curs which our city
government have  sometimes  permitted to  swarm  in our streets;
and we have been assailed for our pains by the whole  pack of their
owners, howling as ferociously as their congenial quadruped favorites.
They have denounced us as murderers, as monsters of cruelty, for
wishing to save human beings  from the horrors of  hydrophobia, 
31
 inflicted by  some gamester's "pointer slut,"  some  loafer's  "bull
 terrier," or the  Mount St. Bernard tame wolf of some profligate
 young idler.   But these are not the only persons who keep danger-
 ous and  useless dogs.  Whole bodies of worthy citizens do  the
 same, under the impression or pretence that such animals are neces-
 sary to protect their property.  Butchers  and provision dealers
 assert a right to keep dogs as a species of tool of their trade; and
 the public generally accede to the opinion that no man can be a
 butcher without a bulldog.  But these creatures are no more neces-
 sary to a butcher than to a blacksmith, a lawyer, a shoemaker, a
 physician, a  clergyman, or  a dealer in  laces or  ribbons.  It is a
 mere notion, unworthy of the age, and which ought to yield, if not to
 the march of intellect,  at  least to  the  march  of our efficient and
 faithful police.  The dogs that swarm in Spring-Garden, and scatter
 hydrophobia  through the city and suburbs, are kept more for the
 amusement of butchers' boys and apprentices, who delight in their
 ferocious  battles, than for securing the property of master butchers.
   The security afforded by watch-dogs is utterly precarious; for  the
 most faithful may be bribed, and the most ferocious may be terrified.
 An old burglar, hanged at last, in Salem, Massachusetts, a few years
 since, after  a long  course of burglaries and nocturnal  robberies,
 declared,  in his final  confessions, that  he  always  disregarded  the
 obstacle presented by a watch-dog; for he said that a sausage  or
 other savory  morsel rarely failed to quiet the best;  and that  when
 bribery would not  avail, and terror was necessary, he invariably
 put the most ferocious to flight by stripping to the buff and rushing
 suddenly  in at the door or through the window.  The boldest dog
 is terrified by a sight so  uncommon.   It is like a ghost to a brave
 soldier; an enemy of  a new order, whose supernatural powers he
 cannot measure, and therefore does not meet.   We doubt not that
 the oldest and most expert thieves in this city can confirm the state-
 ment of their brother of  Salem, and if they can, the only pretence
 for keeping dogs in cities is refuted.   But if dogs are good watchers,
 good  watchmen are better, and do not expose people to hydro-
 phobia.
  As we have been  denounced as murderers for recommending the
 indiscriminate destruction of unmuzzled curs, we ask the husband
 and friends of Mrs. Keely, the late victim in Lancaster, whose views
they most appreciate, our own or those of the dog owners ?   Yet
the horrible fate of this lady may be the fate of any woman or child
in this city, and we may ask every husband and father to bring the 
32
case home to his own fireside.  Are the friends of Mrs. Keely suffi-
ciently outraged to justify a war of extermination against useless
dogs ?   If so, we advise them to fill  their pockets with sausages
well drugged with nux vomica, and to  throw a portion in the way
of every dog which they meet without a muzzle.  We know parents
who are resolved upon this expedient,  to save their children from
the danger which the authorities of the different corporations will
tolerate in the shape of dogs at large against law; and we know of
a tribe of dogs, not a thousand yards from the Exchange, in Pear
Street, Third Street, Walnut Street, Dock  Street, and " all  along
shore."  A word to the wise is enough.
                     The Hydrophobia Case.
  AYe give, in another column, the highly interesting report of the
Committee appointed in reference to the late  distressing case of
Hydrophobia.   It will be seen that a number of persons have been
benefited by the use of Stoy's medicine.   In a particular stage of
the disease which it is intended to cure, we have no doubt that it
has and will prove effectual; and had it been properly administered
to Mrs. Keely, under the care and attention of her husband, or some
faithful and attentive nurse, we have no doubt but that lady would
have been spared to her  children and friends.
   REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO  INVESTIGATE THE
      LATE HYDROPHOBIA CASE AND TO  TEST  THE EFFICACY OF
      STOY'S MEDICINE.

  At an adjourned meeting, held on the evening of the 4th March,
1839, at the Court House, John Mathiot, Esq., Chairman, G. Zahm,
E. Shaeff'er, Capt. J. Snyder, Dr. Kly Parry, and Joshua Jack, Vice
Presidents, II. W. Gundacker,  Secretary, the committee  reported
the following:—
  In accordance with the resolution  under which the committee
were appointed in Town Meeting for the purpose of gathering in-
formation respecting Mis. Stoy's remedy or preventive of Hydro-
phobia, the committee feel pleased in having ascertained a sufficiency
(in their estimation) of evidence to enable them to recommend and
urge the use of the genuine Stoy's Ilcmcdy. 
33
   The committee recommend it
   First,  Because it is the only preventive or remedy ever heard of,
 the medical faculty evidently being unable, either to prevent or to
 cure the disease.
   Second, Because they have been enabled to come to  the conclu-
 sion that Mrs. Keely did not receive the genuine Stoy's remedy, and
 shall continue so to think until Mrs.  Stoy  acknowledges that  Mr.
 Niece  is her regular  agent, or has obtained from her the genuine
 recipe.
   Third, Because the cases coming under  the notice  of the com-
 mittee are such as to render it conclusive in their minds  that those
 who have  used it have been delivered, while  they  who have
 neglected it have suffered, although  both  may have  been bitten
 by the same animal.
   The committee therefore submit the following cases as the result
 of their investigation :—
   Mr. John Brant, of Parkesburg, Chester county  (formerly of this
 city), informed the committee that in December last his son, aged
 five years, died of hydrophobia; the particulars  of which are as
 follows: "His son and (his neighbor)  Mr. Hardman's daughter, of
 about the same age, were inseparable  companions.  A  dog owned
 by Mr. H. was their particular favorite, being constantly with them.
 The boy received a wound from  the dog by a  scratch with  his
 claw, above the eye, in October last, and two days after the girl  was
 bitten in her cheek by the same dog.  No apprehension  was enter-
 tained of the dog being mad, although at times he  would fight very
 fiercely with the dogs in the neighborhood,  but would return home
 and  remain  passive, and it was not  until  a  few days after that he
 went to a farm of Mr.  Hope, a few miles distant,  who was pleased
 with, and had intended  keeping him, but  in his  repeated attacks
 upon the several animals on the farm, Mr. Hope soon discovered
 symptoms of hydrophobia, when he was immediately  dispatched.
 He was compelled  shortly after to  kill several of his cattle which
 showed evident signs of madness.
   "Mr. Brant having heard that the dog was certainly rabid, be-
 came very uneasy, and after having made particular inquiry respect-
 ing the manner in which the wound was inflicted, was assured by a
 person who  had witnessed the attack upon his son, that the dog
had  not bitten him, but only reared on his hind legs in a manner
frequently practised by those animals, and in descending scratched
the child over the eye.   This information allayed all apprehensions 
34
on  the part of Mr.  Brant, and  the matter was nearly  forgotten,
until, about six weeks afterwards, when the boy began to complain
of want of appetite and a restlessness was observed.   Shortly after
he began to complain of his throat being very sore.  The next day
vomiting commenced; he was very thirsty; when water was brought
at his request, the sight of which threw him into spasms immediately.
The fears of Mr. Brant as to the cause of the dreadful malady were
then  only realized;  two  medical gentlemen were sent  for;  after
their arrival he was bled, &c, but he died in less than an hour after.
  " Two  days  after the daughter of Mr. Hardman was attacked in
a similar manner; loss of appetite, inflamed throat, and even vomit-
ing had commenced.   Mr. H. having procured some of Stoy's medi-
cine, it was given to the child, when immediately relief was obtained,
and  she is now perfectly well, three months  having elapsed since
she had the attack.  Mr. Brant adds that he has every confidence
in Mrs. Stoy's medicine as a cure for hydrophobia."
  To the  Committee: In the year 1814, whilst  I lived in Drumore
township, in this  county, myself, John Fulman, Jr.,  John Bryan,
and a colored boy, Jim, of my father's, were bitten by a dog of my
own, which we had every reason to believe was  mad.  He bit, at
the same time, three dogs, on the place,  and then ran off. I never
saw him afterwards, but heard of his having been killed, about eight
miles from the place where he bit us.  I was not bitten so severely as
the  others, the skin not having been broken  on me; but Fulman
and Bryan were bitten  until the  blood flowed freely;  and Jim, the
colored boy, had  his finger considerably lacerated.  Having heard
of Mrs. Stoy's  remedy in such cases, I, with my mother, proceeded
to Lancaster, and we obtained of Mrs. Stoy four doses, one for each,
and  took them according  to  directions.   Bryan lived with us for
several years afterwards, although I do not know where he is now;
Fulman lived in the family  until 1828 or '29, when he took typhus
fever, and died; Jim, the black boy, is now living and  well, near
Philadelphia.
  Of the dogs that were bitten, two were killed, and one was con-
fined in  a useless hog-pen, without tying, for the purpose of ascer-
taining whether he would get mad or not.  About thirteen or four-
teen days afterwards, on coming to examine him, we found  him
completely mad, sitting in one corner of the pen, snapping aud biting
even at a shadow; there was no mistake or doubt about the matter.
The dog  was mad.   We then  shot him.  1 have no doubt of the
efficacy of  Stoy's  remedy, after witnessing the above cases. 
35
  I have hastily drawn up this statement during office hours.   It is
not as full, perhaps, as the committee could wish it, but everything
here stated is substantially correct.  There are other little matters
connected with it, but they do not go to make the statement more
satisfactory.
                              (Signed) Geo. B. Withers.
  February 21, 1839.

  Mr. Andrew Selvert, of Lancaster, informed the  committee that,
in 1815, he was  bitten by a dog, owned by  Mr. Adam Metzgar.
The dog having  been from home several days, after his return, he,
Mr. S., being glad to see the dog, in attempting to fondle him, he
bit Mr. S. on the hand.  In pulling his hand from the dog's mouth,
it was considerably lacerated; he also  received a bite in his other
hand.  His father made application to Mrs. Stoy, and received some
medicine, which he made use of.  He felt no further inconvenience
from the bite, with the exception that the wound remained sore for
some time, as it was kept open for about fourteen days, according
to the direction of Mrs. Stoy.
  Mr. Adam Metzgar stated that Mr. Selvert lived with him at that
time. The same dog bit several hogs of Mr. Bear, which afterwards
became mad, and were shot.
  Mr. William Demuth, of Lancaster, states that  he and Samuel
Davis, and their servant girl, were bitten by their own dog.   Sup-
posing him mad, his father pent him up, and in this act was also
bitten.  In nine days from that time, the dog died in a rabid state.
The only medicine they made use of was Stoy's.  Neither of them
felt any unpleasant effects after.  Mr. D., fearing that he might not
remember everything connected with the case, referred the commit-
tee to his mother, residing several squares from him.  The commit-
tee proceeded  to her house,  and  her  statement  corroborates the
above.
  Capt. John D. Wilson, of Salisbury township, informs the commit-
tee that, about thirty years since, John Middleton was bitten by his
own dog in his hand, not knowing at the time he was mad.  Some
time after, the wounds  became very sore, and the arm swelled, and
was very painful.   Mr. Wilson  (captain's father) hearing that he
was very ill, and being his tenant, called to see him, but returned
ver}' soon, and stated that the man was mad, and that he  had spasms
on him while he was there.  He gave immediate direction for his
horse to be  brought, and went  to  Lancaster, and from there dis- 
36
patched a messenger to Lebanon with all possible speed to procure
Stoy's medicine.  He received the medicine, and was informed if it
was hydrophobia, and in a state far  advanced, he would throw it
up several times, but they should continue to repeat the dose until
it would remain with him.   When Mr. Wilson returned, Middleton
did not recognize him.  The medicine was administered;  the third
dose remained with him, and the medicine was continued.   Middle-
ton was perfectly cured, and several years after moved to the State
of Ohio.
  Mr. George Yeager, of Lancaster, states that in 1811 he was bit-
ten by his father's  dog.  Several dogs  in the neighborhood were
also bitten, which were killed with the exception of one owned  by
Mr. Neyhoff, who confined him for the purpose of ascertaining what
would follow.  He died of hydrophobia.  The only medicine made
use of by Mr. Yeager was Stoy's.
  Mr. Yeager further states that an old  lady by the name of Hart-
ley was bitten by their dog.  Mrs. Hartley also made use of  Stoy's
remedy, and lived for several years  after.   Mr. Yeager's dog  re-
turned to the house again, when they  confined him, and he died in
a few hours after.

                 Letter from Samuel Redsecker.
                                 Elizabethtown, February 22,1839.
  Dear Sir: Yours of the 20th inst. came to hand, and in answer
to your inquiry, I  give you the particulars as remembered by mo-
ther.  Some 20 or  25 years ago, a wagoner, with his team, stopped
over night at father's tavern.  He had a dog.  It was observed  by
his fellow-wagoners  in company that there was something wrong
with the dog.  My father and Sister Mary were bitten by him, and
the owner  likewise.  The  dog was secured  by tying  him to the
wagon, but during the night he broke loose, and one or two miles
from town he bit a Mrs. Koch.  My father  got  Stoy's  medicine  for
himself, my sister, and  Mrs. Koch, neither  of whom were any fur-
ther affected by the  bite  of the dog.   The wagoner proceeded  on
his journey.   The returning wagoners  reported  that he died of
hydrophobia.
                                  I am yours, &c,
                                        Samuel Redsecker. 
37
  The committee  have had numerous cases before  them besides
those reported;  but believing those sufficient to lay before the
meeting, they would respectfully conclude by adding that they felt
it their duty to  insert  in their report a letter from  Mr. Niece, al-
though it was not received from him  by any member of the  com-
mittee, but by a gentleman who  felt considerable interest in the
late case of hydrophobia in this city.  They cannot account for the
feelings which are expressed by Mr. Niece  for Mrs. Keely.  They
will  leave the public to judge, as  all the information which Mr.
Keely gave to the committee is reported.  They would further add
that  in the treatment of every case which came before them, where
Stoy's remedy was made use of, nothing has been stated  that any
directions were given to change their clothing. They have, there-
fore, no hesitation in saying that they do not believe the recipe
which Mr. Niece states he is sworn to keep secret to be the genuine
Stoy's receipt.
  Mr. Jacob  Keely, being introduced to the committee, stated that
his late wife had not received any of Mrs. Stoy's medicine; the
medicine which  she  made use of as a preventive of hydrophobia
she obtained from Mr. Niece, in Eace Street, Philadelphia, as she
also  stated in a letter  to him  before coming  to Lancaster, which
was mixed in water before taking.  He was present when she was
asked by the  physician in attendance whether she had taken  any
of Stoy's medicine.  Her answer was yes, but in  his opinion her
mind was such at the time that her answer could not  be relied on.
The  following is the letter alluded to from Mr. Niece:—

  Respected Sir: By your letter dated February  20th, I learn
that  you are  very anxious to know what kind of medicine the late
unfortunate Mrs. Keely had been taking, after she was bitten by the
mad  dog.  I  feel it  my duty to state the  truth, that, induced  by
motives of compassion  for Mrs. Keely, and by request of others,
the celebrated Stoy's medicine (prepared exactly  according to the
recipe) was administered, but I cannot say whether the manner of
taking the medicine, with the prescribed diet, change of clothes and
other rules to be observed by it, were properly attended to, as Mrs.
Keely had to attend to the  housework herself, without assistance.
She  only retained one dose on her stomach and two  she threw up
again.  More I  cannot  state, being bound  by  oath not to publish
the recipe.   Mr. Keely, who was present, by  writing this, is per-
fectly satisfied with the statement, and said he is sorry for what he
       4 
38
said at  the  meeting, and wishes that you would  show this  to  Dr.
Atlee, sending his best respects.
                                    Yours respectfully,
                                              Henry Niece.
  Philadelphia, February 24,1839.

  All of which is respectfully submitted.
                                          J. ZIMMERMAN,
                                          HENRY KEFFER,
                                          C. KEIFER,
                                          DAVID LONGENECKER,
                                          SAML. E.  GUNDAKER,
                                          JACOB RATHFON,
                                         H. F. BENEDICT.
  On motion,
  A committee was appointed to confer with Mrs. Stoy, respecting
her remedy for the cure of " Hydrophobia."
  The committee are the same that made the above report.
  Resolved, That  the proceedings of this meeting be published in
the  different papers of the city.