The Bearer Of Crazed And Venomous Fangs

For centuries prior to the development of an effective vaccination against rabies, the bite of a "mad" dog was linked to a horrific ailment marked by convulsions, an utter dread of swallowing liquids, uncontrollable thrashing, and even the tendency to bark and attempt to bite others-a horrid prelude to an agonizing death. Drawing on learned theories of medical practitioners and beliefs of the common people, The Bearer of Crazed and Venomous Fangs investigates the cultural mythology of the ailment known today as rabies. By exploring the cultural history of science, traditional belief, and folk medicine, it reveals the popular myths and learned delusions that came to define the disease. Among the arresting topics explored are the attribution of rabies to a worm beneath the tongue, the notion that the disease could arise spontaneously, the idea that it could be "cured" by the application to the wound of special stones or animal parts, and, if all else failed, the treatment of it by the suffocation of the human victim. Rich in detail and brimming with historical intrigue, The Bearer of Crazed and Venomous Fangs engages students of medicine and the history of science, veterinary studies, folklore, psychology, and anyone interested in how mankind's best friend could be thought of as its cruelest, fiercest enemy.

The nineteenth century was a time of extraordinary scientific innovation, but with the rise of psychiatry, faiths and popular beliefs were often seen as signs of a diseased mind. By exploring the beliefs of asylum patients, we see the nineteenth century in a new light, with science, faith, and the supernatural deeply entangled in a fast-changing world. The birth of psychiatry in the early nineteenth-century fundamentally changed how madness was categorised and understood. A century on, their conceptions of mental illness continue to influence our views today. Beliefs and behaviour were divided up into the pathological and the healthy. The influence of religion and the supernatural became significant measures of insanity in individuals, countries, and cultures. Psychiatrists not only thought they could transform society in the industrial age but also explain the many strange beliefs expressed in the distant past. Troubled by Faith explores these ideas about the supernatural across society through the prism of medical history. It is a story of how people continued to make sense of the world in supernatural terms, and how belief came to be a medical issue. This cannot be done without exploring the lives of those who found themselves in asylums because of their belief in ghosts, witches, angels, devils, and fairies, or because they though themselves in divine communication, or were haunted by modern technology. The beliefs expressed by asylum patients were not just an expression of their individual mental health, but also provide a unique reflection of society at the time - a world still steeped in the ideas and imagery of folklore and faith in a fast-changing world.

This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue "Rabies Symptoms, Diagnosis, Prophylaxis and Treatment" that was published in TropicalMed