CHAPTER XL. 



RABIES (HYDROPHOBIA). 



ALTHOUGH neither the nature of the micro-organism 

 nor the nature of the poison of rabies has as yet been 

 determined, it is here considered because of its special 

 interest, and from the fact that it was the first infec- 

 tious disease to which a curative, or, rather, preventive, 

 method of inoculation was successfully applied. 



Rabies is an acute disease of animals, dependent upon 

 a specific virus, and communicated by inoculation to 

 man. It is usually associated with an injury, such as 

 the bite of a dog, and the inoculation of the broken 

 surface with the saliva of an animal affected with the 

 disease. This is the so-called rabies of the streets. 

 Wolves, cats, foxes, and dogs; horses, cows, and deer 

 may contract the disease; monkeys, rabbits, and guinea- 

 pigs are all inoculable with it, as, indeed, are all warm- 

 blooded animals. Rabies occurs in almost all parts of 

 the world; it is most common in Russia, France, and 

 Belgium; it is not infrequent in Austria and those parts 

 of Germany bordering on Russia, and in England. It 

 is comparatively rare in this country, although it occurs 

 occasionally in various parts of the United States, also 

 in Mexico and South America. Rabies is extremely 

 rare in North Germany, Switzerland, Holland, and 

 Denmark, owing to the wise provision that all dogs 

 shall be muzzled; and in Australia it is unknown. 



