PEACTICE OF MEDICINE AND HYGIENE 



it. Between 1779 and 1807 it came to America 

 through the West Indies and Peru. In 1860 

 hydrophobia prevailed so extensively in Ohio 

 and Missouri that the farmers petitioned the 

 Government for reimbursement for their great 

 loss of cattle. In 1863 the disease was so prev- 

 alent in Greenland that in certain districts all 

 of the dogs perished of it. The histories of the 

 various epidemics is a most instructive study. 



It is an old disease, being known to the 

 ancient Egyptians. We find it described by 

 Aristotle (384-332 B. C.) He said, "Dogs 

 suffer from a condition of madness, which puts 

 them in a state of fury, and all animals they 

 bite when in this condition become also attacked 

 by rabies." Cornelius Celsus, in the first cen- 

 tury, gave an admirable account of the disease. 

 Galen (131-201 A. D.) declared hydrophobia 

 to be the worst of all diseases, and described 

 the symptoms with great accuracy. Rhazes 

 (922) and Avicenna (1036) observed and de- 

 scribed it. Then scientific interest waned till 

 the nineteenth century \vhen the disease was 

 more fully studied by Meynell, Youatt, and 

 Hertwig, who endeavored to place the subject 

 upon a more scientific footing. It had been 

 believed by many that rabies could develop 



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