RABIES, the name given to a disease affecting the dog and other animals, was known to the ancients, and is spoken of by Aristotle, Pliny, and Horlice; but it does not seem to have been then so virulent in its nature, or alarming in its consequences, and Aris totle, perhaps in ignorance, states that man was not subject to its attacks. It was very prevalent on the continent two or three centuries ago, but was comparatively rare in this country until the last century. ' This malady stands almost aldue in this, that all animals seem liable to its attacks.
It is a matter of dispute among some of our best authorities whether rabies be occa sionally spontaneous in the carnivora—the only animals in which it is undoubtedly inherent—or communicated solely by inoculation.
Looking simply at the history of the disease, the facts would seem to be against the spontaneity theory. Rabies is not known in some countries, such as the cape of Good Hope, s. Africa, Egypt, Syria, the South Sea islands, Lisbon, where dogs swarm; and in Constantinople, where they go at large, and support themselves on offals of all kinds and qualities, the disease is of very rare occurrence. John Hunter relates that it was not known in Jamaica for 40 years previous to 1783, when it was introduced by an affected dog from America; and Dr. Hamilton says that curs of the most wretched description abound in the island of Madeira—that they are affected with almost every disease, tormented by flies, by heat, thirst, and famine, yet no rabid dog was ever seen there. There is often, no doubt, great difficulty in tracing the cause of rabies froati inoculation. The owner may feeCconvinccd that his diseased dog had almost never been out of his sight, or exposed to an affected animal; but when we consider the pred atory habits of the dog, and his love of association, and how easily he can steal away unobserved by night or by day for a longer or shorter time, we can readily acccunt for the most vigilant eye being occasionally off its guard. It has been asked, as an objection to the exclusiveness of contagion or inoculation, How was rabies at first originated? But the same difficulty attends the case of small-pox and other diseases which now arise only from contagion.
There is another important peculiarity in this disease on which medical men are divided --viz., whether the virus of a rabid animal, other than of the carnivorous species, can communicate the disease. Experiments to test this were made by some foreign sur geons of eminence, by Drs. Vaughan and Babington of London, and at the Royal Vet erinary college; and it is reported that in every instance they failed in producing the disease. It is certain, however, that others have not so failed in their object.. MM. Majendie and Brechet in 1823 inoculated two dogs with the saliva of a hydrophobic man, and it resulted in one of the dogs becoming rabid, which in turn communicated the dis ease to other dogs and some sheep. Mr. Earl, the well-known London surgeon, in administering medicine to a hydrophobic woman, was bitten by her, and he immediately excised the administering part. Being accused of unnecessary fear and cowardice, he deter mined to justify his fears, and having inoculated rabbits with the woman's saliva, some of them became rabid. Mr. King of Bath succceeded in producing the disease in a common lien by the virus of a cow. Several other cases could be related, but it may serve our purpose to quote the following remarks of Mr. Youatt: "I can imagine that
the disease shall not be readily communicated by the saliva of a graminivorous animal; but I have once produced it in the dog with the saliva of an ox, and twice with that of the horse, but I have failed to do it in very many cases. While on this point, it may be remarked, that the writer once saw a, rabid horse bite a young man's hand rather severely, while incautiously giving it a ball of medicine, and he accompanied him to sir Astley Cooper, who, according to his invariable practice, as he told us, applied nitrous acid to the injured part, and he assured us that no bad effects would accrue; and neither there did." We shall briefly notice some of the leading symptoms of rabies in the dog and horse. These may be exhibited in the dog in a few days, or it may be, and often is, weeks, and even months after he has been bitten. At first he loses his appetite, becomes sullen,. has a vacant gaze, licks or gnaws the injured part, laps any liquid that comes in his way –for he has, unlike man, no dislike for water, although he has a difficulty in swallowing it—eats wood, straw, hair, and other indigestible substances; and in a day or two he becomes quarrelsome, bent on mischief, bites at anything that comes in his way, and his bark is more like a howl; his rower jaw often becomes pendulous, and general paralysis sometimes precedes death; and as a rule. on the fifth or sixth day he dies. The principal post-mortem appearances are these—enlargement and increased vascularity of the salivary glands, inflamed condition of the base of the and faeces, epiglottis, and stomach, which last organ almost invariably contains such indigestible substances as straw, hair, offal, etc. The symptoms in the horse, which become apparent in a few weeks, are those of extreme irritability. He trembles, heaves, and paws, staggers and falls; and after a severe struggle, he suddenly rises again, and appears settled and col lected, when he will again exhibit the usual distressing symptoms, He is sometimes mischievous, bites, foams, and snorts; and generally in three days he dies paralyzed and exhausted.
The disease seems primarily to be one of blood-poisoning, and not, as some have represented it, an affection of the nervous system. We know that some instances of blood-poisoning terminate with coma, or convulsions, but are not, on that account, to be considered as proceeding from nervous disease. Whatever may be the precise nature of the disease, it is certcin that no cure has been discovered for it. The writer has seen many dogs, some horses, and an ox in all the different stages of it, and many attempts at a cure tried, without producing even any palliative effects, and every one of the patients died in the ordinary course, whether anything or nothing was done: As the disease is so rare, and—contrary to popular belief—is not more prevalent at one period of the year than another, no anticipatory precautionary measures can be taken. Prevent. ive measures, however, when it is known, or even suspected, that the disease has fested itself, should not for an instant be neglected. All dogs known to have been bitten, or been in the company of the rabid animal, should be immediately destroyed, and every other dog in the town and district confined, or closely muzzled, for several weeks, or even months. As to the measures to be taken when a human being is bitten by a rabid animal, ace HYDROPHOBIA.