280 INFECTION AND IMMUNITY 



date. Bites upon the extremities, especially when 

 the teeth of the rabid animal have passed through the 

 clothing, by which the virus is to some extent re. 

 moved, are less likely to be followed by an attack of 

 hydrophobia. 



Among the lower animals the following have been 

 demonstrated to be susceptible to rabies : dogs, cats, 

 cattle, sheep, horses, goats, swine, mice, rabbits, 

 guinea-pigs, skunks. 



Man usually contracts the disease through the bites 

 of dogs, cats, or wolves, and occasionally of skunks. 

 A considerable proportion of those who are bitten by 

 rabid animals may escape the disease, especially when 

 the bites are upon the extremities and are not severe. 

 Prompt cauterisation of the wound also has the effect 

 of reducing the proportion of these attacks. 



The popular idea that dogs are especially liable to 

 go mad in summer, during "the dog days," appears 

 not to be well founded, as it may prevail at any season, 

 and dogs do not go mad any more than men, unless 

 they have been bitten by a rabid animal and the virus 

 of the disease has been introduced into the wound ; 

 or, as has occasionally happened, the infectious ma- 

 terial has been introduced into an accidental wound 

 inflicted in some other way. 



It has been claimed that certain parts of the world 

 are free from rabies and that it does not prevail in 



