BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 221 



federal laws alone apply, but because rabid dogs are liable to be con- 

 veyed or to cross into the States of Maryland or Virginia, thus carry- 

 ing the contagion. 



Section 8 of the act of Congress approved May 21), 1884, makes it the 

 duty of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia "whenever 

 any contagious, infectious, or communicable disease affecting domes- 

 tic animals " shall be brought into or shall break out in the District, 

 to take measures to suppress the same promptly and to prevent the 

 same from spreading, and to report to the Secretary of Agriculture 

 whatever they may do in pursuance of the provisions of this section. 

 In order to cooperate with the District government in harmony with 

 the spirit of section 3 of the act mentioned, all dogs suspected of hav- 

 ing rabies have been received at the laboratory of this Bureau, and 

 have been tested by post-mortem examination and by inoculation 

 experiments to determine positively as to whether they were so dis- 

 eased, and the health department has been advised of the result of 

 the tests. Public notice was also given by the issuance of a Depart- 

 ment order of the existence of rabies in the District, and prohibiting 

 the movement of dogs between the District and the adjoining States, 

 except under conditions which would prevent the spread of the con- 

 tagion. 



The Commissioners of the District ordered the muzzling of dogs for 

 a time, but the order was so generally disregarded by dog owners, 

 either by allowing dogs to run at large without any muzzle or by the 

 use of inefficient and worthless muzzles, that the measure had no 

 appreciable effect upon the progress of the outbreak. There was 

 increased activity on the part of the authorities in catching and destroy- 

 ing unlicensed dogs, which unquestionably had considerable effect in 

 limiting the extension of the contagion. New cases of the disease, 

 however, continue to develop, and the contagion still exists, menacing 

 human life and threatening the animals of the District and of sur- 

 rounding States. 



As rabies is a disease which can be best controlled by local authori- 

 ties, since such authorities already have the machinery for seizing 

 dogs and for properlj^ disposing of them, it has not been deemed 

 advisable for the Bureau to take any active steps for the suppression 

 of this outbreak. Nevertheless, it is plain that unless the disease soon 

 disappears of itself it will be the duty of the Bureau to take adequate 

 steps to protect the several States from the contagion which is being 

 harbored in the District. There have been cases of rabies already 

 reported just beyond the District boundary, which presumably were 

 due to extension of the contagion from the District. 



The number of children bitten by rabid animals is sufficient to 

 excite the fears of all i^arents, and should be an adequate reason for 

 the most stringent measures of eradication. It is fortunate that the 

 Pasteur treatment has been available, and that nearly or quite all of 

 the bitten persons have taken it, otherwise it is likely that in this 

 number there would have been several deaths. This treatment, how- 

 ever, is expensive, it is painful, it requires time, and it is not infalli- 

 ble, although it has reduced the deaths among bitten persons to 0.5 

 per cent, or 1 in 200. The children bitten have usually been those of 

 people in moderate circumstances and the cost of treatment has been 

 a serious burden and hardship to them. 



A disease of this nature is one from which the people rightfully 

 expect protection from their Government. It is a danger which they 

 can not avoid by individual effort. It menaces their most cherished 



