carried on, upon its present expensive fcale, for three years, from the prefent time, without any additional taxes, that it may be continued for feven years longer by impofing new taxes, to the amount, on an average, of only 293,000l. per annum; and, that after that period, it may fill be carried on without any further additional taxes; while at the time the public are reaping thefe advan tages from the propofed arrangements, the finking fund will be greatly sugmented, and confequently the reduction of the debt be greatly accelerated. E. R. To To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, AFTER I had finished the few obfer, vations on dogs, lately fent you, happening to take up a newspaper of the preceding day, I caft my eyes on a paragraph on the fame fubject, by another anonymous writer. Hic afferts," that a dog bitten, but feparated and confined, remained free for five mouths, and then took the difeate of which he died; while feveral others, bitten at the fame time, had at diferent intervals, previously become rabid and died." This fact is given on the credit of an huntfman. May we not alk, Was he qualified to judge, whether this was in confequence of the bite, or, whether it might not be a different malady? Dogs, like other animals, are fubject to various Complaints, and fome which nearly refemble hydrophobia. There is a difeate, which Dr. James and others call dib madness, under which the animals do not attempt to bite, but remain fuggith and ftupid till they die. This may be called ipurious, and of doubtful infection; yet admitting the fact, as this writer intends, it makes only an exception to a general law; which, instead of deftroying, is a ftronger confirmation. Some have taken the finali-pox twice, yet this will never deftroy the belief that the general character of the difcafe is, to attack once only the fame individual. The fame has been obferved of the fcarlet fever, though I am confident that it is fpecific, and its general character fimilar, in this refpect, to the fmallpox. The general character, alfo, of the vaccine virus, is to run through its ftages in about nine days, yet I have met, in my practice, with two cafes, where the inoculated punctures healed in two or three days without the leaft appearance of infection, and I confidered it a failure. At the end of fifteen days, however, in Que inftance, and feventeen in the other, the punétures inflamed, went through their ftages, and a complete veficle was produced at the ufual period. Both thefe children, expofed fince to the fmall pox, to prove the efficacy of the vaccine prefervative, continue fecure from the variolovs infection; while they prove, at the fame time, the dormant ftate of the infection in thefe inftances to have been nearly double that of the general law, anomala which may not again happer in a thousand cafes. I am, therefore, little inclined to change my fentiments refpecting the interval between the bite and the fubfequent thefe better difcriminated, fhall be produced. I do not, therefore, hesitate to repeat, that from five to fix weeks is fufficient for the confinement of a dog fufpected to be bitten, and that the animal may from thence be allowed the enjoyment of his liberty, without danger of difcafe; yet I fhall not inveigh against any one whofe timidity may impel him to extend to his fufpected dog the time of confinement, if, in his own opinion, it fhould render him fecurer and more happy. I infift only on the truth of the general law, and have never found it to deviate in any inftance, wherein my directions were concerned. The hydrophobic poifon takes a greater range from inoculation, till the fyftem becomes infected, than any other contagious virus, fome inftances of typhus, according to the obfervation of a refpectable author, excepted, where many months intervened froin exposure to the effluvia in one inftance, before it became active, though the general law in it, as in others, be well defined. It would, however, be unfair to take extreme cafes, as well as unphilofophical and contrary to facts to conclude that the hydrophobic is uncertain and indefinite as to its time of acting; yet this opinion has unfortunately long prevailed, and has been copied by one author from another without examining into the fact. This ill-founded notion has been fraught with much mifery to individuals. All the farrago of preventives have been eagerly fought after, and human health deftroyed, for more than half a life-time, to obviate a difeafe, which it was believ ed might occur at any interval, `from an hour after the bite, to the most advanced age. A refpectable perfon, in this county, having been bitten by a fufpected hound, and rendered miferable from this belief, fwallowed many noftrums. He melted down his conftitution with mercury, and neither rofe nor lay down free from apprehentions for a feries of years, till my animadvertions on the fubject happily restored him to quiet of mind. Twenty years have fince elapfed, and he still lives free from alarm, enjoying his ufual health. The doctrine, I believe, is no longer held by the faculty, though it exifts in full force among the generality of the other orders in fociety. From From the collation of many cafes, the period between the bite and firft fymptom of the difeafe appears a little fhorter in quadrupeds, than in the human fpecies. A dog bitten in Ipfwich, Auguft 30, 1795, died chained, on the 24th day after. In the neighbourhood where Dr. White refided, feveral animals were bitten, all of which took the disease and died within the month. At another time, a cow, fome fwine, and other animals, the number of which my author does not fpecify, bitten by a mad fox, were all dead in three weeks, M. Bonel afferts, that a dog, a cat, a bull, and two cows, bitten and infected, likewife died within three weeks. Two dogs, mentioned by Dr. Gutherie, died within a month from the bite. A dog, in Ipfwich, wormed when a puppy, from an erroneous opinion that it would prove a prefervative, went mad fome years after, and bit two dogs which died of the disease in twenty days. A dog, mentioned by Mr. Troot, died fourteen days after being bitten. Dr. Western mentions two fheep bitten, which died of the difeafe in fourteen days. C. Nixon relates an inftance of a dog which died on the tenth day. Mr. Meynell obferved the firft fymptoms fourteen days after the bite. Dr. Shadwell obferved the firft fymptoms in a pig nine days only after it was bitten. Dr. Dickfon faw the disease occur fo early as the feventh day. I truft, Mr. Editor, thefe examples will bear me out in the opinion that I have advanced, refpećting the interval, and the time neceffary for a fufpected dog's confinement. Had I more leifure for refearch, the catalogue might be greatly increased. Before concluding, I would beg leave to point out the neceffity of caution in approaching ftrange dogs, or fhewing any familiarity with them, however healthy and harmless they may appear. If a dog lay on the pavement in the paffengers' way, it would be fafer to go round, than force him from his place. Many of the accidents arifing from the bite were caufed by firange dogs too familiarly approached, when in the firft ftage of the complaint, and when the animals fhewed no appearance to the common obferver of the malady. It will be the highest temerity, let the occafion be what it may, to take the ufual liberties with the animal, if the least suspicion be entertained. In Auguft, 1795, a little spaniel, familiar with the children of a gentleman of this place, bit one of them flightly, but fufficiently to draw blood; the parents were alarmed, as mad dogs had been in the town a few weeks before, which caufed many of the inhabitants, through apprehenfion, to kill their dogs. A furgeon was called to the child, and the circumftances related. The animal lay by the fire, apparently in health, while he liftened to the relation. Through the best motives, but miltaken ineaus, in order to quiet their fear, and induce a belief that it was in perfect health, he took it up, as I was told, opened its mouth, introduced his hand, which he turned round in the fauces. This it fuffered without the leaft fign of ruffled temper. But the act was unguarded and rath, although he escaped; for it had bitten the fame morning a kitten fevercly, fevering the head almost from its body. The indifference which it thewed at the introduction of his hand, calmed the fears of the family for that night; and next day but early on the morning of the third, attacked with another fit, the furious animal laid hold of the lip of a puppy about five months old, fo firmly that the fervant, who ran to its affiftance, was obliged to draw them forcibly afunder. This threw the family into new confternation, and the child's father immediately waited on me for my advice. Being by indifpofition confined to my room, I had not before heard of this moft ferious and alarming affair. I urged him to chain the animal without a moment's delay. As the fit had fubfided, the creature was eafily fecured, when in little more than a day after, with the most obvious marks of rabies, it died in confinement, as did the puppy in the fanie manner in the fpace of three weeks. The reader will be happy to learn that prophylactic means, one of which was excifion of the bitten part, were fuccefsful preventives for the child. The inadvertency of the medical attendant, in rifking his fafety to allay a parent's agony, is no impeachment of his general knowledge, and is mentioned here as an overfight merely, and an ufeful caution in future exigencies of the fame nature. The first accellion of ra bies in the dog is very gradual, the intervals long, and exacerbations trifling, but daily fhortening and ftrengthening, they become at laft numerous. Recol lection lection at length fails, when the animal rans off wandering without confcioulnefs, committing ravages as he proceeds, and dies about the feventh or eighth day. In the last day their tight, as well as recollection feems to be loft. In one inftance, at least, I think this obfervation verified. In September, 1802, walking from Weltminster-bridge, across the fields to the Borough, I met a concourfe of people in purfuit of a mad dog, which was only a thort way before them. My fervant, feeing the animal approach us, gave the alarm, and we ran to one fide. The track the animal kept was in a direct line with the rails of the obelisk, againft which, as it ran with confiderable force, it dafhed its head and fel; the purfuers coming up, immediately difpatched it. I am inclined therefore to conclude, that, in the last day of the difeafe, blindness may be enumerated among the fymptoms. I fhall feel myfelf obliged to any of your readers, who can produce well-authenticated facts on the fubject of the rabid dog, which has contracted the difeafe, either fpontaneously, or in confequence of a bite; for it is vain to contend, that by the latter only the canine virus is propagated. Minute, but continued alterations in the various fecretions from innumerable fources, though the chief I think may be afcribable to food, weather, and fituation may be adequate, without a bite, to the formation of the disease. been always fuccefsful, but in propor- February 7, 1807. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. I SIR, AM encouraged by your invitation, at page 516 of the December Magazine (vol. xxii.) to offer a few remarks, in addition to the many judicious ones, by Aquarius, at pages 436 to 439 of the fame number, on the fubject of procuring a fupply of wholefome water for domeftic purposes; my prefent defign is, to treat of ipring wa ter only. The many far-fetched and fanciful hypothefes which philofophers have invented, for railing water for fupplying the earth with Iprings, have at length given way to the more imple and rational theory, which accounts for every known fpring, by the defcent and filtration of the water, fupplied on the furface by rains, dews, &c. In fome inftances the water percolates through gravel, fand, or other porous matters, on or near the furface, to finall depths only, before its progrefs downwards is arrefted, by clay or other watertight matters below, and the water is either held up, fo as to fully faturate the porous matter, fometimes to the very furface, or the fame foakes away laterally on or near to the inclining furface of the clay, &c. beneath, until it arrives at fome lower place, where the fpring vents itself on the furface; of this kind are all the fprings in and near London, which are reached by fhailow wells; below the level and in the vicinity of the Thames, the furface, gravel and fand, will be found faturated and fupplied alfo with water from the river, The finking of welis, in the above clafs of fprings, is fo fimple a bufinefs, that Aquarius truly obferves," few villages are without an engineer capable of the task." I have bestowed confiderable attention on the fubject, and wish to continue my relearches. It is an inveftigation well meriting our labour. We take the animal to our bofoms, we load him with our careffes; he is a faithful friend, and an ufeful fervant; he guards our houfes and tends our flocks. In proportion, therefore, to his familiarity with us, is our danger, when he is under this, hitherto, incurable difeafe. Few quadrupeds, bitten by a rabid dog, escape infection; and it is evident how detrimental he then may become to the live ftock of the farmer, or ftud of the gentleman. The effects on the human ipecies is ftill more deplorable; yet it is fome confolation, that at an average, formed on a pretty wide fcale, not above one in fixteen bitten take the difeafe. If proper means be taken, to free the wounds from the poifon, and prevent its effects on the fyftem, all may efcape. We have not, it is true, in this 1 It is to Mr. William Smith, a gentleman who has devoted many years to the minute inveftigation of the ftrata of the British Inlands, that we are principally indebted for a general knowledge of the more powerful and univerfal fprings, which are to be reached by deep wells: it is true, that deep wells in fome districts, as on the chalk downs, near Brighton, Lewes, &c. in Suffex, belong to the cafe already mentioned; the chalk to the depth of one, two, or even three three hundred feet, being there fufficiently open, by means of its numerous cracks or fiffures, to let the rain water feak freely down, almoft, or quite to the level of the fea. Mr. Smith, has to me and numerous others, demonftrated in the exercife of his profeffion, and he will fhortly publifh an important work on the fubject, that every iratum, whether of clay, fand, chalk, ftone, &c. which we meet with in finking a well, or pit, however deep, forms part of an extended inclining plate, of nearly equal thickness throughout; which, at a greater or lefs diftance from the well, arrives at, and crops or baffets out upon the furface, generally for a long distance together, and that all, or moft of the porous firata, as fand, or open rock, are thus at their out-crops fupplied with water, which percolates, or foaks down them, often to complete faturation. The deep wells in London and its vicinity, furnish us with inftances of this laft kind of fprings; many of thefe wells firft pafs through the gravel and other alluvial matters, containing a fmall fpring of the first kind, before they enter a thick ftratum of clay; a few feet within this clay, layers of those fingular nodules, called Ludus Helmonti, are frequently found, and in fome inftances the fame produces a fmall fpring, much impregnated with mineral qualities; after proceeding a great way further in the clay, a ftratum of fand is met with, and which fand fometimes produces water, but in no great quantities, and often unfit for culinary purpofes: the two fprings, laft mentioned, are ftopped or walled out by the well-digger, a procefs which I must take fonie other opportunity of explaining, and either the inking of the well, or the boring of a large augur-hole, proceeds further through the clay until a thick ftratum of loofe fand is reached, often at three hundred feet deep, fo perfectly faturated and charged with water as to produce the effects, defcribed by Mr. Vulliamy, near Acton, and mentioned by Aquarius at p. 433. The rife of water in deep wells near London, is always very coalderable and its quantity great, after the thick fand ftratum is reached; in fume wells in low fituations, it actually flows over above the ground, as in Richmond Town, in Thames Street, London, and other places, befides Mr. Vulliamy's; and this would be the cafe more generally, or perhaps, univerfulty in fach fituations, if the water did not efcape through the gravel and fand on the top of the clay; an infiance of which, I have obferved in fome modern wells, on the fouth fide of the village of East Sheen. The out crop of the thick ftratum of fand fupplying the deep wells near London, particularly thote north of the river, may be traced through the parifles of South Mims, Ridge, Buthey, Rifclif, and other places about fifteen or fixteen miles from London, whofe confiderable elevation above the level of the metropolis fully accounts for the force with which the water is there fent, in th's lower fand firatuin, and in the chalk on which it refts. The village of Rifclif furnithes a curious example of the general ignorance or want of perfeverance in well-fuking in those parts; fuch wells as they have (if my infornation on the spot, when tracing the outcrop of the above fand, be correct) reaching no further than the first fand, and producing a bad and unwholefome water, which might easily be walled out, and the remarkably good water procured in plenty in their town, which they now fetch in drags a diftance of half a mile from its accidental vent in the meadows. Our newly acquired knowledge of the ftratification, while it points out the pollibility of finding plenty of water in any place, and furnithes data for gucffing at its quality, and calculating nearly the expence at which it may be got; by making known all the matters compofing the fouth and caftern parts of this ifland, has rendered the expectations vain, of digging coals in all thefe parts, notwithstanding the confident affertions in your Magazine to the contrary, by certain fpeculators in Suffex, fee vol. xxi, p. 584, and vol. xxii. p. 94. I might have mentioned above, that every confiderable brewer in London has now a deep well, and raises the fand or chalk fpring-water, above-mentioned, for ufe in brewing his porter, the pe culiar properties of which beverage were heretofore afcribed by many to the ufe of the Thames water. The vale of the Thames, is not the only fituation where overflowing wells might be had; almost any low fituation might furnish them, by proper management, and foinetimes a confiant rill of water, of no inconfiderable nfe, might tings be obtained, as I have myfelf witnelled. Westminster, Your's, &c. 10 February, 1807. JOHN FABET, For |