“EXTERMINATE ALL BRUTES” 2008
Conflictroom, Antwerpen
Installation, birch-tree, Brazilian hair, slide projection, sound of wind
Text on slide projection cut from “Household Companion: The Family Doctor”:

Poisoned wounds are seldom met with, even in war, amongst civilized nations, except by unintended causation.

This may happen in the dissecting-room. Matter from dead bodies, or from diseased living ones, introduced even into the slightest scratch with a knife, needle, or pin, may so taint the blood as to produce a dangerous illness. To prevent such results (beside care to avoid letting an abraded or punctured part come in contact with morbid matters), as soon as such a thing has happened, the part should be immediately washed and sucked, and then kept out of the way of further danger.

In the treatment of poisoned wounds, there is nothing different from that of those which are penetrating or lacerated, unless the wound is made by rabid animals or by venomous serpents. For either of these last, immediate suction is a right precaution, and at the same time a tight cord around the arm or leg, if either extremity has been bitten, then the end of an iron wire or rod, heated red hot, or a piece of caustic potassa, should be made to burn out the part, or a pinch of gunpowder may be exploded upon it. All these severe measures are designed to prevent the poison from getting, through the blood-vessels, into the system. Although not more, probably, than one in ten of those bitten by mad dogs have hydrophobia, that one will incurably suffer a dreadful death.