Quote
On Thursday morning, a mad dog, at Hilsea Barracks, Portsmouth, bit an officer of one of the regiments there, and two men belonging to the 49th regiment; it tore the face of one of the men very much.
— Hereford Journal, Wednesday 23 March 1808 source
Quote
The body of an unfortunate soldier of the 50th Regiment, who died of hydrophobia at Portsmouth, has been dissected, in the presence of most of the medical gentlemen in the neighbourhood. His name was Glew, a native of Yorkshire, 22 years of age, and a fine young man. His father is a farmer of much respectability, with a large family. The dog bit him on the cheek, as he was standing centinel at Hilsea Barracks-gate, and then instantly ran and bit the next centinel on the forehead, who is not unwell. The part was cut out, and it had quite healed. He left no effects from the bite till the full of the moon, when he requested to be confined: he said, he had no intention to do injury, but he thought there was danger of it. He had long intervals of sanity. At the full of the next moon his delirium exceedingly increased; his body was writhed and convulsed in the most dreadful and shocking way. Two days before his death he barked incessantly like a dog, and complained of a dog being under his bed gnawing him. He bit the man who attended him in the thumb, who has since been ill. His case is considered the worst of any that has been known.
— ed. Cave, Edward (1808) The Gentleman’s Magazine: and Historical Chronicle for the Year 1808. Volume LXXXVII. John Nichols and Son, Fleet Street. source
Question
Any chance that tissue samples from this post mortem ended in Dr James McGrigor’s Collection of Morbid Anatomy Specimens?
Question
What happened to the attendant? Rabies isn’t known for having a survival rate.
Tangent
The Moon and Epilepsy in the Eighteenth Century Mentions rabies, but no further details. The Problem of Mad Dogs in the Eighteenth Century, from the same source, is also interesting.