DOG-POISON IN MAN 



339 



" Lotawon Ohumar, aged fifty years, was bitten 

 on August 7, 1870, under the following circum- 

 stances : He was sleeping in a poultry-yard in Be- 

 nares, when he suddenly awoke by a great noise 

 among the fowls at 4 a. it., and, while moving 

 about to ascertain the cause, was bitten by some- 

 thing that he did not see, as it was dark — he sus- 

 pected it was a snake. When daylight appeared 

 he found a fowl lying dead, and he then himself 

 began to feel ill ; a little later he become insensi- 

 ble, and unable to stand. The only mark of in- 

 jury was a black spot near the ankle-joint. The 

 wound was incised and liquor ammoniae applied to 

 it. It was also administered internally every fif- 

 teen minutes ; twenty drops with water, equal 

 parts, were injected under the skin, but he never 

 rallied, and died half an hour after admission." l 



Another instance, quite as characteristic of 

 life among our native brethren in India, is worth 

 perusal : 



" Information was received at 6 p. m. of Novem- 

 ber 21st, that a native boy, name and residence 

 unknown, had died from the effects of snake-bite. 

 It appears that the diseased had been on the Dia- 

 mond Harbor Koad, and, near the house of the in- 

 formant, had gone into the jungle, having pre- 

 viously laid down on the road-side a basket contain- 

 ing a snake and some other things used by snake- 

 charmers. He returned in a few minutes, and was 

 observed to be rubbing his right with his left 

 hand ; on being questioned as to what was the 

 matter, as he looked as though he was suffering, 

 he said he had a burning sensation all over his 

 body, and shortly after he fell down and died. 

 He had, while in the jungle, met with a snake, the 

 kind he did not mention, and, on trying to catch it, 

 it bit him on the back of his right hand. . . . The 

 precise time between the bite and the death is not 

 known, but it could not have been more than from 

 fifteen to twenty minutes, from the account I re- 

 ceived of the circumstances of the case." 2 



The effect of virulent snake-poison, as, for in- 

 stance, that of the cobra, is producedjiYs; 1 , by its in- 

 troduction into the blood ; second, by affecting the 

 nerves either at their periphery, or along their 

 course, or at their centre. Depression and faint- 

 ness are the first result; then loss of coordinat- 

 ing power ; then paralysis, convulsions, and as- 

 phyxia. 3 



It would seem by various experiments and 

 observations on cobra-poisoned animals and men, 

 that the motor-nerves alone, or the spinal cord, 



1 Fayrer, " Thanatophidia of India," p. 58. 



2 Ibid., p. 59. 



3 This is admirably described, and in the fullest 

 manner, by Fayrer in the " Proceedings of the Royal 

 Society," 1S74, p. a 



or the brain, may be each separately affected, or 

 any combination of them. 



Fayrer quotes Genesis, chapter xlix. 17, where 

 Jacob says, " Dan is an adder in the path, that 

 biteth the horse heels, so that his rider falleth 

 backward " — i. e., produces instant paralysis of 

 the hinder limbs. This snake-poison is the sim- 

 plest, deadliest, naturalest, healthy poison. 



The poison created by the dog, our compan- 

 ion and friend, is in another category. It is not 

 natural to him. He is himself a victim. The 

 poison he transmits he has received. It works 

 almost certainly his o >vn destruction. He spreads 

 it without intention. Man perhaps helps to cause 

 it by his treatment of him. It is a consequence 

 of his faithfulness and of his domestic relations, 

 and of his familiarity, that he inflicts the injury 

 on his master. The rabies, which is his torment 

 and curse, brings about the hydrophobia in his 

 protector and guardian. It lies with man to save 

 the dog from the sickness, which, once engen- 

 dered, rebounds with terrible force on the human 

 family. 



Since the secreted poison which the dog emits 

 when himself affected by rabies does not produce 

 on man the same results that it produces on the 

 dog, it might be suspected that there is something 

 wild and uncertain in the modus operandi of a 

 poison. It is not so. It has been well said by a 

 classical writer that there are three prime laws 

 of poisons : 



1. That all have certain definite and specific 

 actions. 



2. That they lie latent a certain but varying 

 period of time before these actions are set up. 



3. That the phenomena which result from the 

 poison, when roused into action, vary according 

 to the dose, and the condition or special charac- 

 ter of the victim. 



In illustration of these laws, we may cite, 

 firstly, so fateiliar an instance as that scarlet- 

 fever poison will not produce small-pox ; sec- 

 ondly, that the effect may be latent only a moment 

 (as in the poison of prussic acid, and the poison 

 of the cobra) before the symptoms are set up ; 

 or it may be latent for definite days, as in mea- 

 sles ; or for uncertain weeks, months, or even 

 years, as in hydrophobia ; and, thirdly, that tem- 

 perament, state of health, mode of life, race, in- 

 heritance, the animal, as well as the nature of 

 the poison itself, produce remarkable variations 

 in the action of some poisons. 



What, then, is canine rabies ? and how does 

 rabies arise ? Probably never spontaneously, or, 

 if it ever does so, it is certainly with extreme 



