THE GENET 



seize it, the genet, however, fights fiercely with 

 teeth and claws. The saliva of this animal appar- 

 ently possesses some poisonous property, but this 

 has not been satisfactorily demonstrated. 



Several cases have been reported of men dying 

 two or three weeks after being bitten by genets. 

 In these instances it is stated that after being se- 

 verely bitten on the hand or arm by a genet, the 

 wounds healed satisfactorily, but subsequently 

 violent and sharp pains radiated up the arm from 

 the site of the bite into the shoulder, followed later 

 by symptoms which seemed to resemble hydro- 

 phobia more or less. However, be this as it may, 

 the fact should be recognised that wounds caused 

 by the bites of enraged animals are particularly 

 liable to become inflamed and set up a condition 

 of blood-poisoning. 



Therefore all such bites should be treated as 

 poisoned wounds. If the wounds are slits, scratches, 

 or gashes, then the cleansing and disinfecting pro- 

 cess is simple, for in these instances they need only 

 be thoroughly washed with a solution of perman- 

 ganate of potash and afterwards liberally dusted 

 over with boracic acid powder and bandaged. If, 

 however, the wounds are deep punctures made by 

 the canine teeth of an animal, they should be thor- 

 oughly syringed to the bottom with a weak solution 

 of permanganate of potash or Condy's fluid. This 

 can be done with an ordinary glass syringe. 



When captured adult, the genet never loses 



7 



