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tions twenty-one persons as having been bitten by a mad dog, of 
whom only one suffered. During the Stockholm epidemic 106 
persons were bitten, and of all these only one, who neglected his 
wounds, contracted hydrophobia. Zoualt, the celebrated veterinary 
surgeon, has been himself five times bitten by mad dogs, and has 
cauterised the wounds of 400 people who were bitten, without a 
single bad result. And I could cite many such examples, proving 
how very small a percentage of those bitten suffer any serious mis- 
chief. In 1870 there died in England of hydrophobia 60 persons ; 
in 1874, 61; in 1876, 73; in 1877, 82; in the other years between 
1870and 1883 there died on an average about 40 persons each year, » 
which is only two or three per million. This is a very small per- 
centage, but when we remember the fearful and hopeless suffering 
entailed by the disease, there isno question that as it can so it ought 
to be prevented. So hopeless is it that formerly sufferers were in 
England smothered between two feather beds, and only the other 
day I heard of a man being treated for the complaint in France by 
having his jugular vein opened, which was of course equivalent to 
bleeding him to death. One obvious and easy precaution should at 
once be at once taken—no ownerless dogs should be allowed to 
wander about the streets. Each dog should be compelled to wear 
a collar with its owner’s name and address on it. The owner of any 
rabid or savage dog should be made legally responsible for any 
damage he may do. This would make people careful. All dogs 
straying without collars should be destroyed. Any dog bitten by 
any other dog, rabid or not, should be inoculated. Every dog, for 
a period of six months from a given date, should be either muzzled, 
tied up, or led by a string, or otherwise be rendered impotent to bite 
another dog or man. All this should be made compulsory and 
penal. Foolish ladies are largely responsible for fostering hydro- 
phobia by injudicious overfeeding of pet dogs and by not affording 
them proper opportunities for exercise, &c. It does not apparently 
strike these amiable, over-indulgent ladies that their supposed kind- 
ness is really great cruelty to their unfortunate pets, and a great 
possible wrong to society at large. 
A short discussion followed, in the course of which Mr. Hussey 
cited a case which had come under his notice, in which a_ perfectly 
healthy dog had conveyed hydrophobia. Colonel Rotton said he 
had met classes of hydrophobia in pariah dogs in India, but he 
admitted it was rare. 
In reply to questions, Dr. Tyson said rabies might be conveyed 
by horses, but he had never heard of its bemg communicated by a . 
human being. They had no knowledge as to the origin of the 
disease, any more than they had of the origin of smallpox, scarlet 
fever, measles, and other diseases. He suggested that dog licenses 
a 
