858 Dr Wagner's Observations on Rabies or Madness 



by means of their hind legs. Last of all, they lie for hours on 

 the side, as if dead, when the bright shining eye, and occasion- 

 ally a convulsive movement, alone indicate a remnant of life. 

 On the seventh, eighth, or at most the ninth day they die. 



On dissection, nothing abnormal is to be discovered beyond 

 a gall-bladder filled to excess with muddy yellowish-green co- 

 loured bile, in a state of complete fermentation. From the great 

 distention of the bladder, the fermentatory process is easily dis- 

 tinguished from without. 



3. In Horses. — With horses the symptoms of rabies are as 

 follows : In the team they display unwonted activity and emula- 

 tion. Here, however, as well as in the stable, they assail their 

 fellows with bites and kicks. They generally refuse both pro- 

 vender and water, nod or jerk the head frequently, (as horses 

 are in the habit of doing, when they are in spirits), and have a 

 fiery eye. On the second, or at most on the third day, these 

 symptoms increase to such a degree, that no creature can ap- 

 proach them without being bit and kicked in the most fright- 

 ful maimer, and to offer them either food or water appears only 

 to augment their rage. Yet moments of quietness intervene, 

 provided the stable be kept dark and nothing around them stir. 

 On the other hand, such is their fury when disturbed, that on 

 a plank being taken out of the stable door, in order to destroy 

 them with safety, they will rush to the spot, and thrusting 

 their head through the aperture, make attempts to bite in every 

 direction. How long such a state continues, until death oc- 

 curs spontaneously, I am not able to determine, as in the cases 

 which came under my observation, the natural termination was 

 not waited for. 



4. In Pigs. — During my long continuance in office, I met 

 with but a solitary instance of rabies in the pig. This animal, 

 afattening boar, had been bitten, four days previously to my see- 

 ing it, by a mad dog, but it already raged with such violence, 

 that I could only observe it through the crevices of the sty 

 wherein it was inclosed. It gnashed its grinders, jumped up 

 at the sides of the sty at one instant, and threatened to burst 

 through them at the next, by the violence of its eiForts. I di- 



