(Improperly called Hydrophobia.)

POST MORTEM examination has not revealed with certainty the exact seat of this disease, but there is little doubt that it is confined to the spinal cord and base of the brain. It is admitted by the medical profession throughout Europe and America that no cure has yet been discovered for this terrible disease, and therefore it will only be needful here to describe the symptoms, so that proper precautions may at once be taken, when they appear, to prevent the dog from communicating the disease by his saliva, or, if he has already bitten man or animal, to stamp it out in the latter case, or in the former to prevent the inoculation from taking effect by absorption.

The Hon. Grantley Berkeley has taken on himself of late years, with very little experience of rabies, to resuscitate the long exploded fallacy that the rabid dog may be distinguished from the animal whose brain is only attacked in an ordinary way, by the fear of water, which the former, as he alleges, always displays. Every modern authority is against him, yet he fearlessly recommends owners of dogs which are attacked by madness of any form to run all sorts of risks so long as they show no fear of water. He says they may handle such patients with perfect impunity; and as his name stands high with the multitude because of his position in the world of sport, he is likely to mislead a good many into taking his advice. My own experience is not much greater then his in true rabies, having only seen three cases of it; but, as far as it goes, it is dead against him, there being no fear of water in either of the cases seen by me, but, on the contrary, a strong desire and craving for it. In each case the disease was propagated from, and in two of them both from and to, others; so that there could be no doubt of its being true rabies.

Still, I should lay little stress on so limited a number, and prefer to rest the question on the general opinion of the medical profession, which, as I said before, is unaminous on this point, and I shall therefore dismiss it as settled without further discussion.

The symptoms of canine madness are very much the same in all cases, though varying somewhat in their manifestations. The first and most marked is a change of disposition and temper, so that the naturally good tempered dog becomes morose and snappish, and those which are usually fondling in their manners are shy and retiring. Sometimes the change is even so great that the usually shy dog becomes bold; but this is not nearly so common as the opposite extreme. Generally the rabid dog shows a warning of his coming disease by this change of manner for several days before it breaks oat with severity; though I have seen one well-marked attack which began and ended in death within forty-eight hours. This was in a Newfoundland dog, which I bought in perfect health to all appearance, and shut up in order to accustom him to his new master for a week or ten days, feeding him myself at the end of the first twenty-four hours, and observing no change from the usual habits of a strange dog. On the evening of the tenth day, however, after he had appeared in very good spirits, and eaten his dinner from my hand in the morning, he began to show signs of bad temper, and exhibited that peculiar snapping at imaginary objects well described by Mr. Youatt. On the next day he was in a highly rabid state, and died in the night after.

When these premonitory symptoms have lasted an uncertain time, varying from twenty-four hours to three or four days, the dog begins to attack imaginary objects, and if real ones are presented to him he will tear them savagely to pieces. He is now exceedingly irritable, and wanders restlessly from place to place, having apparently a strong desire to do something, but not caring what that is, so that he is not quiet. If he is confined by a chain he will try and gnaw it to pieces; and if restrained by a door within narrow bounds he vents his fury upon that. In this state he knows not the sensation of ordinary pain, but will bite a red-hot poker presented to him exactly as if it were a cold one. As the disease advances water is eagerly swallowed, but in his hurry the dog will generally upset his stock of that fluid; and hence he is often thought to be unable to swallow, whilst all the time he is burnt up with thirst, and will constantly imbibe it, if he can do so without knocking over the vessel containing it in his haste.

The. howls and groans are generally peculiarly deep and melancholy, and by them a mad dog in confinement may often be recognised, though sometimes the patient is quite silent, and in that state is said, in common language, to be "dumb mad." When at large, however, no warning noise is made, and the dog seems only determined on a straightforward trot. If he is interfered with in any way, and more especially if he is struck, he will wreak his vengeance on the offender; but he seldom goes out of his way to do a mischief, and will often pass through crowds of people without biting them; even if pursued and annoyed by cries and hootings, he takes no notice until he is injured, and then more frequently endeavours to escape into solitude, than turn upon his assailants. This desire to wander appears to me an instinctive attempt to get rid of the disease by muscular action, and if indulged in quietly, I am inclined to think that there might be some chance of a recovery; but as it would not be wise to run the risk, the experiment can never be tried.

The disease is evidently caused by some poison, and, as in other cases, poisons are got rid of by some extraordinary secretion, so I am lead to believe that the wearing down of the muscular, and with it the nervous system by long-continued fatigue, is the natural cure of the disease.

Preventive Measures are the only ones of service in this complaint, which if fully established, has hitherto been uniformly fatal in all animals attacked by it, including man himself. When a bite has taken place, the best plan is to destroy the animal at once: for though excision may most probably prevent the occurrence of the disease, no risk should be run. In man, immediate excision, followed by caustic, should always be had recourse to, previously taking care to suck the wound, with a mouth free from ulcers, to discover which put a little salt in the mouth, when it will by its smarting show their existence, if there are any. It is supposed that confinement is the cause of the disease ; and I am strongly inclined to believe that such is the case, as in those countries where dogs are suffered to be at large, rabies is an unknown disease. A wooden caustic case, containing a pointed piece of lunar caustic, is sold by all chemists, and should be carried in the pocket by those who run any risk of a bite from a rabid dog.

The average time elapsing between innoculation and the appearance of the disease is about two or three months. It has been known to break out in less than three weeks; and, on the other hand, not till fully six months after the reputed bite.