566 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



to the difference of the circumstances from 

 those of any previous case is the amount of 

 new law made. So the law increases, fol- 

 lowing civilization as it advances, till at last 

 the total becomes an enormous bulk of judge- 

 made laws ; the result of the progressive de- 

 duction of rules and principles by a process 

 of distinguishing by small variation, varia- 

 tions from previous cases similar, but not 

 identical ; so that, when a decision is made, 

 some increment is added to the body of the 

 law, or substitution of new for old is made, 

 even to such a degree that at last, by the 

 slow process of disintegration, the old law 

 is reversed. " A distinctive characteristic 

 of legislation is that it is supreme over all 

 other methods of law-making. Its advan- 

 tage is that it can make the will of the peo- 

 ple effective much more directly and expe- 

 ditiously than the other agencies. Many are 

 the cases in which legislation has swept away 

 the cobwebs of legal subtlety, simplified tech- 

 nical laws, and cleared from the path of 

 progress the obstacles of precedent and 

 form." 



Tests and Characteristics of Rabies. — 



Rabies, says Dr. Armand Ruffer, is a spe- 

 cific infectious disease, the first origin of 

 which is unknown. But we know that now- 

 adays it never occurs spontaneously, and 

 that, wherever it appears, it may be traced 

 to the bite of a rabid animal or the acci- 

 dental introduction of rabic virus through a 

 scratch or cut. Climate seems to have no 

 influence, or very little, on its production. 

 That heat has little to do with it is shown by 

 the fact that it occurs in cold as well as in 

 hot climates. In temperate climates, cases 

 occurring among dogs appear to be as com- 

 mon in winter as in summer. Cruelty may 

 also be excluded as a cause of rabies. Dogs 

 may be teased and provoked to bite in 

 anger, but, though mad dogs, they are not 

 rabid dogs. The chief propagator of the 

 disease is the dog; but he does not 

 always, at first, exhibit the symptoms re- 

 garded as characteristic of it. He is not 

 usually afraid of water, and the first symp- 

 toms, instead of signs of fury, usually simu- 

 late an increase of affectionate sentiments. 

 Even at this stage, however, the saliva al- 

 ready contains the virus, and is dangerous. 

 Later on, the victim becomes sullen and 



morose, with a very characteristic bark, bit- 

 ing every dog he comes across, and fre- 

 quently runs away, snapping at animals or 

 ■ men as he meets them, till he dies exhausted, 

 perhaps sixty or seventy miles from home. 

 The dumb variety of rabies, which is char- 

 acterized by the symptoms of paralysis, is 

 equally common and dangerous with the 

 furious form. The virus is the same, but 

 gives rise to different symptoms. Rabies is 

 also propagated by wolves where they are 

 numerous ; and it may be met with in foxes, 

 horses, sheep, and cattle which have been 

 bitten by rabid animals, but is seldom com- 

 municated from them. The cat is danger- 

 ous, but not so dangerous as the dog, be- 

 cause her disposition is to seclude herself. 

 Some erroneous notions prevail as to the 

 manifestations of the disease in man. As a 

 matter of fact, in many cases the patient is 

 calm and conscious, and attacks of excite- 

 ment are rare. The foaming at the mouth 

 is caused by inability to swallow the saliva. 

 The changed voice is a result of dryness and 

 spasms of the throat. A patient may oc- 

 casionally bite the attendants during a par- 

 oxysmal attack of fury, but in the majority 

 of cases he does not try to injure those near 

 him, and hardly ever tries to bite. Some- 

 times there are no attacks of excitement, 

 while the affectionate sentiments are often 

 greatly exaggerated. The supposed fear of 

 water is really only an inability to drink, the 

 reaction of which may induce spasms of the 

 throat. The majority of persons who die of 

 hydrophobia die within four months, and 

 ninety-nine per cent of them within a year, 

 after the introduction of the poison. Cases 

 of persons who recover after the first symp- 

 toms of the disease appear are extremely rare, 

 if there are any. Of remedies there are 

 none that are reliable, unless M. Pasteur's 

 comes from the test triumphant. 



Interesting Geological Formations in 

 Kansas. — The March number of the Bulletin 

 of the Washburn College (Kansas) Labora- 

 tory of Natural History consists of a paper 

 by F. W. Cragin on the Cheyenne Sandstone 

 and the Neocomian Shales of Kansas. The 

 Cheyenne sandstone, resting unconformably 

 on the Triassic of a few counties of southern 

 Kansas, is so called for the present in de- 

 fault of precise knowledge of its stratigraph- 



