138 Agricultural Bacteriology. 



The body of a dog that has died of rabies shows no 

 marked changes on post-mortem examination. The stom- 

 ach is likely to contain foreign objects, such as grass, 

 sticks, etc. 



Treatment of rabies. If the disease develops until 

 symptoms are apparent, nothing can be done and death 

 is certain to follow. In human beings the death is one 

 of the most horrible than can be imagined. However, if 

 treatment is begun early enough the disease can be pre- 

 vented. The basis of the treatment is exactly the same 

 as in the cases of anthrax and black leg. A weakened 

 form of the virus is used. If rabbits are inoculated with 

 a portion of the spinal cord or brain of a rabid animal,, 

 they will usually die from the disease in fifteen to twenty 

 days. If repeated inoculations are made from one ani- 

 mal to another, the virulence of the causal organism in- 

 creases ,until the rabbits will die in six or seven days. 

 The virulence can not be farther increased and the virus 

 is said to have a fixed strength. The spinal cord of a 

 rabbit that has died after inoculation with such a fixed 

 virus is removed and placed in a dry atmosphere, the re- 

 sulting desiccation weakens the organism gradually. A 

 person applying for treatment is given a sub-cutaneous 

 inoculation with a suspension in water of a cord that has 

 been dried for fourteen days; on the following day the 

 inoculation is made with a cord that has been dried for 

 a shorter period of time. Within a week or ten days the 

 inoculation is made with a cord that has just been re- 

 moved from the animal, and which, of course, contains 

 the unweakened virus. The treatment, which was dis- 

 covered by the French bacteriologist, Pasteur, has re- 

 sulted in the saving of hundred of lives and has robbed 

 the disease of many of its terrors. The treatment is em- 



