662 APPENDIX. 



rapidity with which the virus is diffused through the 

 body from the point of inoculation in the tissues seems 

 to vary according to the location of the wound, but it 

 is always comparatively slow. It has been found 

 that rabbits, when etherized and then presented to a mad 

 dog to be bitten on the fur, escape the disease in a very 

 large proportion of cases, although the teeth may have 

 passed well through the skin; if, on the other hand, the 

 part presented to the rabid dog be shaved before it is 

 bitten, the bitten animals contract rabies in a much 

 larger proportion of cases. So in man, in many cases the 

 rabic virus may be cleaned from the teeth by the cloth- 

 ing which covers the bitten part before they come in 

 contact with the skin. From what has been said it is 

 evident also that when the skin is thick and the nerves 

 few a small quantity of virus may find its way into a 

 wound, but riot penetrate into the nerves, and thus the 

 person bitten by a rabid animal may escape without any 

 ill effects beyond those due to a lacerated wound. This 

 will explain the fact that only about 16 per cent, of 

 the cases bitten by rabid animals appear to contract 

 hydrophobia. 



Preventive Inoculation Against Rabies. The old treat- 

 ment of rabies consisted simply in encouraging bleeding 

 from the wound, or by first excising the wound and 

 then encouraging bleeding by means of ligatures, warm 

 bathing, cupping-glasses, etc. ; the raw surface was then 

 freely cauterized with caustic potash, nitric acid, or the 

 actual cautery. It is doubtful whether the disease ever 

 manifests itself after such heroic treatment if the 

 wound be small; but when the wounds were numerous 

 or extensive the mortality from it was still high. 

 As it was often impossible to apply cauterization to the 



