522 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



flows iu abundaiRO from the mouth. Waving the hand or a stick 

 at the animal is sullieient to maice it attack. In the intervals of 

 fm-y the animal is somnolent, dull. Death usually occurs by paraly- 

 sis, starting often in the limb which was bitten. The animal soon 

 becomes prostrated and dies on the fifth or sixth day. In these 

 animals, as in others, the paralytic or "dumb" form is seen also. 



The symptoms as seen in goats, deer and sheep do not differ materi- 

 ally from those already described. 



A symptom more or less common to all animals is the irritation 

 about the site of the inoculation wound, this being often the earliest 

 symptom which attracts attention. 



Kahies of Birds. The disease in birds is apt to be of the para- 

 lytic type, and its duration is more chronic than in any animal, 

 lasting from fourteen days to several weeks, and occasionally ending 

 in recovery. The crow^, falcon and old pigeons are refractory to the 

 disease, while chickens, geese, owls and young pigeons contract 

 it readily. The period of incubation in geese and owls is about 

 fourteen days, while for the chicken it may reach forty days. The 

 degree of virulence of the virus with which the inoculation is made 

 seems to have but little effect on the rapidity of incubation. The 

 blood serum and brain matter of birds which resist the disease de- 

 stroy the virus. The changes in the central nervous system are the 

 same as those which have been found in man and in the domestic 

 animals, and are especially marked when the disease is slow in its 

 progress. 



Appearances After Death. There is no change in animals which 

 have died of rabies which can be considered specific of the disease. 

 The cadaver is apt to be emaciated and becomes putrid rapidly. 

 The blood is dark and thick; the brain and its membranes may 

 be congested, even show slight hemorrhages, anJ the res- 

 piratory and digestive tracts show a catarrhal condition, with slight 

 hemorrhages. Perhaps the most constant feature is the presence 

 of foreign bodies such as wood, straw, hair, etc., in the stomach 

 and iiic absence of food, this condition having been found in 90 

 I»er cent, of 200 cases in dogs examined by Axe. 



The absence of changes, whicii may be considen.'d as belonging 

 specifically to rabies, is no doubt due many of the erroneous ideas 

 which have been held concerning the disease. 



Until recentl}', the only way of making a certain diagnosis after 

 death, was by the inoculation of other animals Avith a portion of 

 Hie brain or spindl cord of the dog. For this pur])ose the rabbit 

 has been usually selected, as being one of the most susceptible of 

 all animals to the disease. Injections into the muscular tissues 

 of any part of the animal with the virus of rabies, will almost cer- 

 tainly produce the disease, but it is more quickly produced by inocu- 



