THE DOG. 143 



rabid dogs, or other animals, escape hydrophobia. The number of 

 deaths from this cause during a period of twenty-six years, accord- 

 ing to their notes, was 740, or little less than 28 per annum. More 

 men than women were bitten, but sex made very little difference in 

 the mortality. The liability to be bitten by young persons of from 

 five to fifteen years of age was found to be greater than that of 

 their seniors, though the fatality of the bite was not so great, not 

 more than one fourth, while among aged people, from sixty to 

 seventy, it amounted to two thirds, and above that age to three 

 fourths. Children, therefore, seem to be less readily infected by the 

 poison, though their chances of meeting with the accident are greater. 



" The animals reported as causing the bites during the twenty- 

 six years were : Dogs, 707 ; wolves, 38 ; cats, 23 ; fox, 1 ; cow, 1 ; 

 and the disease was pretty equally distributed over all seasons. Ob- 

 servations on the incubation of the disease show that in a large pro- 

 portion of cases it declares itself within the first sixty days of the 

 inoculation. Thus, out of 221 attacks, 139 occurred within three 

 months of the bite, 54 between sixty and one hundred days, 21 be- 

 tween one hundred and one hundred and eighty days, and 3 at later 

 periods. The disease lasted from one to fifteen days, the greater 

 number of cases holding out about four days. 



" Cauterization, either by actual burning or with butter of anti- 

 mony, is generally resorted to by French surgeons. This remedy 

 seems to have a great influence with reference to the effects of the 

 poison. In a given number of cases duly operated upon, the mor- 

 tality was only 35'7 per cent ; while, out of 117 persons left to 

 themselves, 96, or 82 per cent, died. Facts like these prove that the 

 great evil is not the number of deaths, but the terror and anxiety 

 caused to persons bitten by a strange dog. 



" The moral is, somebody ought to be made responsible for 

 every dog in the country." * 



It would have afforded me much pleasure to give some statis- 

 tics with reference to the extension of this disease among our 

 own people for a period of years ; but, unfortunately, we have not 

 yet arrived at that stage of civilization when authentic statistics are 

 critically gathered by the various State authorities, and in many 

 States there are no State boards of health. Some day (may it come 

 soon !) we shall have such, and the results acquired by the respective 

 State boards will be published in a compact form by the Xational 

 Board, in unison with the devastations caused by contagious and 

 infectious animal diseases. 



* "Veterinary Journal," vol. viii, p. 217. 



