454 . Mifcellaneous Obfervations on 
between the bite and the difeafe, the authority 
which Morgagni has borrowed is extremely 
fufpicious and unfatisfa&tory. Gafpar a Reies, * 
to whom he has referred, after collecting at 
random a number of marvellous cafes from 
different authors, clofes the lift with acafe on the 
authority of Alzaharavius, in which the interval 
of forty years took place from the date of the 
infeGtion to the appearance of the diforder. It 
would, therefore, appear from this enquiry 
into the facts brought in fupport of the inaéti- 
vity of the canine virus for fo long a period, that 
thefe writers have either been miftaken in re- 
ferring the origin of the difeafe to a fuppofed 
far diftant caufe, when the actual one had 
efcaped obfervation, or that they erred from 
too readily adopting vague and hearfay tef- 
timony. 
II. With refpecét to the influence of the 
canine virus in producing hydrpphobia, : when 
applied merely to the furface of the body,.} 
apprehend we muft receive the various autho 
rities, in favour of the fact, with fome degree of 
caution. That the difeafe has occurred from 
the contact of the faliva ef a rabid animal with 
the 
* «Quod magis eft, Alzaharavius, propria experientia, 
“ teftatur, venenum per quadraginta annos in corpore 
* delituiffe,? 
Elyfium Fucundar, Queftion. Q, 61. Nite 
