Natural History. 435 



application failed. On repeating it, the pain immediately dimi- 

 nished, and in three hours was gone. The application was re- 

 peated twice more, after which the pain did not return — health 

 was restored, and a weakness in the sight caused at first, soon 

 disappeared. 



In several other cases from two to three frictions effected a per- 

 fect removal of the pain. — Med. Journal^ Ixiii. p. 317. 



6. Communicatidn of Hydrophobia. — The following are the re- 

 sults of experiments by Dr. Hertwich, on rabid dogs, described in 

 Groufe and Walther's Journal. 



i. Of 59 dogs which were inoculated, 14 became affected with 

 real rabies. 



ii. Where the inoculation failed, no assignable cause of failure 

 could be discovered. There exists, therefore, a peculiar disposition 

 for the virus of rabies, as for that of other contagious diseases. A 

 mastiff four years old went through a regular series of experiments 

 without any effect being produced, while seven other dogs which 

 were inoculated with him, and in the same manner, became rabid. 

 Some dogs were several times inoculated before any contagion 

 took place, in others this effect was observed after the first experi- 

 ment. 



iii. It appears, therefore, that in cases of doubtful rabies, one or 

 two accidental or artificial inoculations are not sufficient to serve 

 as negative proofs of the existence of rabies. 



iv. No communication of the disease ever took place by the per- 

 spiration ; the contagious matter of rabies connot therefore be of a 

 volatile nature. 



V. ,Its vehicle is not only saliva and the mucus of the mouth, but 

 also the blood and the substance of the salivary glands. It does 

 not appear to exist in the nervous pulp. 



vi. The power of infecting exists at every period of the confirmed 

 disease, and even for twenty-four hours after the death of the 

 animal. 



vii. The virus of rabies appears to be inactive if administered in- 

 ternally : of twenty-two dogs who were made to swallow it none 

 took the disease. 



viii. The application of saliva to fresh wounds appears to be as 

 often followed by rabies, as the bites of rabid animals. 



ix. It is consequently beyond all doubt, that the disease is 

 neither produced by the lesion, according to Gerard's opinion, nor 

 by the fear of the patient, as has been repeatedly asserted. 



X. The opinion of Baden and Capello, that in dogs which had 

 become rabid from the bite of an animal primarily affected with the 

 disease, the saliva did not contain the contagion, and that it con- 

 sisted only in primary rabies, has beeo proved by several experi- 

 ments to be erroneous. This particularly agrees with Magendie's 

 experiments, who having inoculated a dog with saliva of a patient 

 affected with hydrophobia, the animal became rabid after a month. 



