153 



As this is the first time that an epidemic of rabies has oc- 

 curred in San Francisco it may be taken for granted that the 

 efforts of the authorities to combat the disease is being met with 

 the usual obstructions of the skeptic and the ignorant. This is 

 evidenced by the pubHshed facts that the first human victim 

 was ridiculed and told not to worry, when he presented himself 

 for treatment and expressed his fears of hydrophobia. It is 

 therefore safe to conclude that numerous cases are being kept 

 away from the authorities until they develop either the furious 

 or the paralytic form of the disease, that is, until they have 

 done all or most of the harm they can do by transmitting the 

 disease to man or beast, and the epidemic is therefore bound to 

 increase in extent as well as in number of cases, as is invariably 

 the fact in newly-invaded territory, until the public becomes 

 educated through bitter experience to the necessity of coopera- 

 tion w^ith the authorities in suppressing the disease. And that 

 is exactly what is going to occur here if a single infected ani- 

 mal should gain entrance to the Territory and develop the 

 disease before apprehended. For this reason it has been forci- 

 bly impressed on me of late that we must do everything pos- 

 sible to gain the confidence and cooperation of the public and 

 especially of incoming tourists or returning residents who are 

 accompanied by dogs. Every dog owner is as a rule a dog 

 fancier or a dog enthusiast and nothing is more objectionable, 

 not to say horrible, to such as the idea of having the canine pet, 

 pal or companion put in quarantine, something on a par with 

 having a member of the family confined in the state prison. 

 This, in connection with the unfortunate length of the quaran- 

 tine which the nature and course of the disease makes impera- 

 tive, suggests that the premises where the animals are to be 

 confined be made as comfortable and attractive as possible in 

 order to make the prolonged segregation resemble imprison- 

 ment as little as possible and thereby induce the owners to 

 comply with the requirements of the law instead of trying to 

 evade them. 



With these facts in mind I have planned and built the pres- 

 ent quarantine kennels, in so far as the funds allotted for the 

 purpose have allowed. Attractiveness and comfort had, how- 

 ever, to yield to hygiene and space, and these two most import- 

 ant requirements for a modern sanitary quarantine station 

 were provided to the utmost extent possible w^ith the means 

 at hand. On the basis of the average arrival of dogs in the 

 Territory for the past few years, and estimating that the quar- 

 antine regulation would halve this number, it was suggested 

 to the board that provision be made for the segregation of 

 twenty-four dogs at any one time, which would limit the ad- 

 mission of dogs into the whole Territory to seventy-two head 

 per annum, or considerably less than half the usual number. 

 In the opinion of the board, however, the quarantine regulation 



