Rabid: A Cultural History

To my surprise there was, before Louis Pasteur, a way to treat a bite from a rabid animal: cauterization.

There are reliable historical examples and cultural practices that include the practice.  The most famous institutionalized version of this treatment was the use of St. Hubert's Key, a piece of metal heated to glowing and then applied to the bite wounds.  The action at work is plain to see (in retrospect).  The heated metal killed the virus before it had a chance to migrate up the neuron train toward the brain. 

The real miracle is how the practice came about and spread in the first place.  Three cheers for emergent order I suppose.

Worth a trip to your local library.

I picked this up this tidbit in Rabid (A Cultural History of the World's Most Diabolical Virus).  While I found some of the books assertions a bit speculative (rabies as the source of our vampire and werewolf legends), I enjoyed giving it a quick read none-the-less.  

It reminded me that before Sparta and I begin our terrier work in earnest, I probably should spring for a set of vaccinations.