In Márquez's Of Love and Other Demons Abrenuncio the physician and the Marquis discuss the outbreak of rabies that is the centerpiece of the book, since the Marquis' daughter has been bitten by a rabid dog. Abrenuncio notes that the poor “had the courage to poison the food of their rabid kin in order to spare them of a ghastly death... People believe that we physicians do not know that such things occur... That is not true, but we lack the moral authority to endorse them. What we do instead is... commend them to St. Hubert and tie them to a pillar in order to prolong and intensify their suffering.”