RABIES. 151 



enough pronounced to make the diagnosis a certainty in many 

 instances, but in the majority o^ cases this is not so. The 

 dog is usually killed as soon as he bites any one, or shows a 

 tendency to become vicious. An autopsy will reveal no spe- 

 cific gross changes in any of the body tissues. Frequently 

 foreign bodies are found in the stomach, swallowed during the 

 furious stage of the disease. It frequently occurs, after a 

 person is fjitten by a dog, that some one will immediately look 

 into the mouth (jf the animal. In case the mucous membrane 

 or lining is black, it will be at once concluded that the bite is 

 dangerous, even though the dog appears perfectly normal, but 

 if the mouth happens to be red, it will be taken that there is 

 no danger from the bite. This is entirely erroneous. The 

 black color is due to a normal deposit of pigment in the 

 mucous membrane of the mouth. It is present in a certain 

 per centage of all dogs, and has no connection with rabies. 

 The absence of any gross lesions may be taken as significant 

 that rabies may be present. 



The veterinarians of the State of Pennsylvania have been 

 instructed that where rabies is suspected the animal shall be 

 kept under observation for several days. A dog with rabies 

 will not live more than ten days after showing the first 

 symptoms : therefore, a dog that inflicts a bite and shows no 

 symptoms, kept confined for more than ten days and at the 

 end of that time shows no symptoms, can safely be considered 

 free from rabies. Should he show symptoms at the time he 

 inflicts the bite, he should Vje kept under obserA-ation for sev- 

 eral days, and then he can be destroyed and the head, with a 

 portion of the neck, can be sent to the laboraton.- of the 

 Pennsylvania State Live Stock Sanitar\- Board, in Philadel- 

 phia, where the diagnosis will be verified. In the majority of 

 cases, however, the veterinarian does not see the dog before 

 death, and in these cases a laboratory- examination alone can 

 be depended upon . 



Before the year 1900, the only wa>- in which it could be 



