262 Veterinary Medicine. 



days) is accounted for by the period of rutting of the dog which 

 occurs in spring, and brings together troops of jealous dogs fol- 

 lowing individual bitches and fighting for their favors. This 

 gives a great impetus to the propagation of the disease which 

 accordingly becomes more prevalent during succeeding months. 

 The statistics of Bouley show, however, that the season of its 

 greatest prevalence in France is March, April and May, that it 

 subsides slowly up to midwinter and encreases again in spring. 

 Boudin's statistics show the greatest number of cases in man 

 toward midsummer which is explained by the long period of 

 inoculation after bites sustained in the spring, but also because 

 clothing is lighter in summer and infection more likely to reach 

 the skin, and because the heat of the weather tends to cause 

 hyperthermia and eucrease susceptibility. 



The large preponderance of male dogs among the victims of 

 rabies (7:1) has led to the theory that sex predisposes, but the 

 explanation is rather that the males bite each other in their 

 jealousy while they respect the female, the object of their sexual 

 passion. In inoculated cases, males, females, and castrated con- 

 tract the affection indifferently and with equal readiness. 



The skunk is found to be infected in certain localities, and it 

 has been claimed that the affection is native to this animal, and 

 that the form differs from that which prevails in the dog, but the 

 restriction of the disease to sharply circumscribed areas in 

 Michigan and Kansas, while skunks elsewhere show no such 

 malignant quality, demonstrates that this is but an accidental 

 infection of the family of the Mephitis in a given locality. 



Men and children suffer in far greater numbers than women, 

 the difference being mainly due to the protection furnished the 

 female by the flowing skirt, though also in part because of the 

 more frequent contact of men with dogs. 



Virulent Matters. In 1813 Gruner and Count Salm demon- 

 strated the virulent properties of the saliva of the rabid dog. 

 This has been many times repeated, though as shown by Pasteur, 

 Raynaud, and others, inoculations with saliva often kill in one or 

 two days by reason of the presence of other infective germs, or 

 suppuration ensues and destroys the rabific virus so that often- 

 times not more than one in four develops rabies. Galtier suc- 

 ceeded in inoculating 3 rabbits, 1 dog and 1 sheep with the juice 



