Again, the dread of swallowing liquids, though the most singular symptom of the disease, constitutes but a small part of it. It is true that none, or at least very few, recover who have this symptom; yet they certainly do not die in consequence of the difficulty of swallowing liquids, for the human body could easily exist double the time at the. end of which the disease usually proves fatal without food or drink. Besides, the sick can often swallow substances that are nourishing in a pulpy state without their lives being thereby at all prolonged. It is not, therefore, the difficulty or impossibility of swallowing liquids, but the effects of the poison upon the constitution at large which occasions death.

The extreme sensibility of the sick to all impressions appears in the displeasure which they express at even the air blowing upon them, in their dislike to a strong light, in their aversion to Dew faces, or even the sight of their friends and relations, and in the terror they express at being touched, which throws them into convulsions. In a case related by Magendie, the slightest noise, and even merely touching the patient's hair, excited convulsions of incredible violence. As the disease advances the mind is more and more filled with dreadful fears and apprehensions.

In the second stage, the region of the abdomen as well as the chest is the seat of considerable pain; the patient is constipated, but the urine is plentiful and high coloured. Before a certain period the pulse is generally strong, regular, and a little accelerated, hut towards the end of the case it becomes small, irregular, feeble, and rapid.

The duration of life, from the appearance of hydrophobia till death, varies from thirty-six hours to four or five days; the most common period is from two to three days. The event is said to he directly caused by asphyxia, or the cessation of respiration. Of ten persons who were bitten by the same animal, nine died on the second and third day from the commencement of the horror of fluids, and the other on the fifth day. There is an account of a child who lived nine days, but the description of the case and the circumstance of fourteen worms being found in the intestines may raise doubts about the nature of the disease.

Now, whatever may he the resemblance found between tetanus or locked jaw and hydrophobia with regard to the rapidity of their course, their cruises, and some of their symptoms, the following considerations will always serve for the discrimination of one disorder from the other. Tetanus attacks the muscles of the jaw, which remains motionless, while in rabies the jaw is not only movable, but incessantly moving in consequence of the efforts unremittingly made by the patient to free his mouth from the thick saliva with which it is obstructed. In hydrophobia the muscles are alternately contracted and relaxed, but in tetanus they always continue rigid. In addition to these differences, it is to be remembered that the latter disease is induced after the receipt of a local injury, and may occur as a complication of any wound, even that made during a surgical operation.

On the subject of prognosis, with respect to the bite inflicted by a rabid animal and its effects, as evinced in the decided form of rabies, there are several things worthy of attention. According to some writers, small wounds are not less dangerous than large ones, and an attempt is made to account for the fact by the more copious hemorrhage from larger wounds and the frequent neglect of lesser injuries. Perhaps another reason is that the virus is more likely to be confined in a wound with a small orifice than in one which is ample and admits of being effectually washed out. But the more numerous the wounds are the greater the risk. If it then be inquired what is the average number of persons attacked with rabies out of a given number who have received bites, the question can only be answered by referring to the extremes. For example, Dr. Vaughan speaks of between "twenty and thirty individuals bit by a mad dog, of whom only one was afterwards attacked with rabies;" while Dr. J. Hunter tell us of an instance in which out of twenty-one persons bit only one became affected. On the other hand, out of fifteen persons bit by a mad dog, and taken care of at Senlis, three were seized with the disorder; of seventeen others bit by a wolf, ten succumbed; and of twenty-three bit by a she-wolf, thirteen died of rabies.

Bearing in mind these facts, it should always be recollected that the disease may be often prevented, although it cannot be said to be cured. Experience has fully demonstrated and proved that when hydrophobia once begins, it pursues its dreadful course to a fatal termination, the records of medicine furnishing very few and unequivocal cases to the contrary. Hence the imperious necessity of using every possible means for the prevention of the disorder.

Probably, however, many things which possess the character of being preventive of hydrophobia have no real claim to such reputation, such as mercurial frictions, plunging the patient for a considerable time under water, etc.

The instances in which a prevention is inferred to have taken place by different writers in consequence of such means may all very rationally be ascribed to other circumstances. Facts already cited in these pages sufficiently prove that out of the great number of persons frequently bitten by the same dog, only a limited proportion is commonly affected.

The hydrophobic poison is known to reside in the saliva of the animal; consequently the chance of being affected must greatly depend upon the quantity of this fluid which is insinuated into the wound; and if the teeth of the animal should have previously pierced a thick boot or other clothing before entering the skin, the danger must obviously be much diminished. Many wash and suck the wound immediately after its occurrence, and thus, no doubt, very often succeed in getting rid of the poison. And even when it is lodged in the wound, it may not be immediately absorbed, but be thrown off with the discharge. It is therefore advisable, and all prudent patients ought, to submit at once to excision of the bitten part. Now it must be remembered that under each of the above circumstances escapes have frequently occurred, while internal medicines, half drowning of, or salivating the patients, had also not been neglected; so that all the efficacy of prevention has too often been most unjustly ascribed to means which in all probability never yet had, and never will have, any beneficial effect whatever. Should the reader search for confirmation of these truths, it will be found that persons bitten by the same animal have been treated in a particular way, and have escaped hydrophobia, while others, bitten at the same time by the same animal, have neglected all medicine, and have followed no particular plan, yet notwithstanding never had any constitutional effects. If, then, to these reflections be added the consideration that it is frequently doubtful whether the bite has actually been inflicted by a truly rabid animal, and that the mental alarm will sometimes bring on a symptomatic hydrophobia, it is easily conceivable how mistaken a person may be who believes that he has prevented the disorder, and how unmerited is the reputation of the means which he has employed for the purpose.