HYDROPHOBIA. 407 



any bounds/ Mr. Youatt had good reason to remember one 

 rabid cat : not only was the memory of her madness impressed 

 upon his mind, but her teeth were impressed into his lips. 

 Mr. Youatt shall tell his own tale : 



' A cat that had been the inhabitant of a nursery, and the 

 playmate of the children, had all at once become sullen and 

 ill-tempered. It had taken refuge in an upper room, and 

 could not be coaxed from the corner in which it had crouched. 



'It was nearly dark when I went. I saw the horrible 

 glare of her eyes, but I could not see so much of her as I 

 wished, and I said that I would call again in the morning. 



i I found the patient on the following day in precisely the 

 same situation and the same attitude, crouched up in a corner, 

 and ready to spring. I was very much interested in the case, 

 and, as I wanted to study the face of this demon for she 

 looked like one I was foolishly, inexcusably imprudent. I 

 went on my hands and knees, and brought my face nearly 

 on a level with hers, and gazed on those glaring eyes and 

 that horrible countenance until I seemed to feel the deathly 

 influence of a spell stealing over me. I was not afraid, but 

 every mental and bodily power was in a manner suspended. 

 My countenance perhaps alarmed her ; for she sprang on me, 

 fastened herself on my face, and bit through both my lips. 

 She then darted downstairs, and, I believe, was never seen 

 again. I always have nitrate of silver in my pocket ; even 

 now I am never without it. I washed myself and applied 

 the caustic with some severity to the wound, and my medical 

 adviser and valued friend, Mr. Millington, punished me still 

 more after I got home. My object was attained, although at 

 somewhat too much cost; for the expression of that brute's 

 countenance will never be forgotten.' 



Inasmuch as this cat's latter end was mysterious nobody 

 knowing what became of her or how she died perhaps it 

 cannot be said, according to strictest logic, that the fact of 

 her rabies was determined. Mr. Youatt, however, had no 



