I have here introduced a sketch of hydrophobia, chiefly to show
the respiratory organs in their utmost excess of expression. A
delirium, attends the latter hours of the patient, but the disease
does not correspond to the term canine madness; it is an affection
of the nerves of breathing and expression. The disease influences
these nerves almost exclusively, and when the paroxysm returns, it
is with a sense of suffocation, attended with a sudden convulsive
heaving of the chest, catching of the muscles of breathing, and
an inexpressible degree of agony in the countenance—horror and
shuddering.
I have thus put down a few hints on a most unpleasant and
distressing subject of contemplation. But it is only when the enthusiasm
of an artist is strong enough to counteract his repugnance
to scenes in themselves unpleasant, when he is careful to seek all
occasions of storing his mind with images of human passion and
suffering, when he philosophically studies the mind and affections
as well as the body and features of man, that he can truly deserve
the name of a painter.