282 INFECTION AND IMMUNITY 



79 in 1891, and 38 in 1892. There was at this time 

 much opposition to the muzzling ordinance and it was 

 not enforced. As a result of this the number of cases 

 again increased until in the year 1895 it reached high- 

 water mark, 672 cases. Again the muzzling ordinance 

 was enforced, with the result that the number of cases 

 fell to 17 in 1898 ; 9 in 1899, and zero in 1900. 



The number of deaths from rabies in the United 

 States is not shown in the census reports, the cases 

 being no doubt included under the heading, " Other 

 Causes." In the census of 1900, 33,776 deaths are 

 included under this heading. 



It is unfortunate that we have no exact statistics 

 with reference to this disease, inasmuch as its exist- 

 ence has been denied by certain members of the 

 medical profession. 



It is difficult to understand the mental operations 

 of those who deny the existence of hydrophobia, the 

 value of vaccination, and other well-established facts, 

 except in the case of those who are ignorant. But 

 for certain minds the logic of facts appears to have 

 no weight as opposed to prejudice and preconceived 

 theories. That there is an infectious disease, known 

 to us as rabies, which is communicated from one ani- 

 mal to others and from rabid animals to man, by the 

 introduction of infectious material contained in the 

 salivary secretions into a wound usually inflicted by 



