Before we got a vaccine against it in 1884, rabies was a particularly terrifying disease. Cases were few and far between, compared to, say, tuberculosis, but one might survive TB, which was not the case with rabies. And the illness leading to a rabies death was horrifically unpleasant. Maybe that's why people turned to mad stones, which were said to be a sure-fire cure.
Only a few healing professional had mad stones, which were said to be bezoars, or hairballs, containing limestone and healing minerals taken from the bodies of animals (although many were not). The use of a mad stone followed a long and arcane method known by but a few. Did they work? Supposedly, since everyone heard stories of people who survived rabies with these stones, including Abraham Lincoln's son. The practitioners didn't broadcast the stories of people who were not cured. And considering that dogs will bite people even when they aren't infected with rabies, you can draw your own conclusions. Read about the miraculous mad stones at Atlas Obscura.
(Image source: Wellcome Collection)
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1963 When my family moved to Michigan from Massachusetts we lived at my aunt's house while our new house was being built. There was a half tame squirrel in the neighborhood. One day I was hand feeding it. My mothers yells at me not to let it bite me. I think her voice frightened it because he nipped my finger which bled. Mother says don't tell anyone. I did, at supper and my dad freaks out and we all go to the emergency part of the nearest hospital. They determine I need a series of rabies shots but the doctor says they have 2 serums and if they give me the wrong one I'll be a vegetable because a girl the week before got a wrong shot and it happened to her. I saw a rabies shot, a huge amount of handcream thick penicillin in a giant sized needle and a tetanus shot on a tray and ran out of the building going anywhere/nowhere just to get away. They dragged me back screaming and I got the shots. A whole series of them - 1 a day for 3 weeks. Turns out that squirrels don't carry rabies because their metabolism won't support it. grrr
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