HYDROi'llOlSiA 185 



1 Was thoroughly Satisfied was afflicted with rabies. If people would save 

 the lives of dogs suspected of being thus affected, we might in time have 

 an understanding of the subject by studying the sick dogs. But the first 

 thing that happens to a dog when he shows signs of anything wrong is to 

 immediately suspect it of being mad, and after that it is a very short time 

 until its existence is ended by a bullet through the head, and the most val- 

 uable evidence in the case is destroyed. If the dog had been spared and 

 confined, if he had been mad, the fact could have been easily determined, 

 and he could be destroyed after the evidence was complete that it was a 

 case of rabies without a shadow of doubt. But this course is seldom pursued, 

 and the dog that has bitten any one in a spasm.it makes no matter what 

 was the foundation for his pain, is immediately killed without regard to his 

 value, and the bitten party left to suffer the torments of uncertainty as to 

 whether he or she was inoculated with the virus of hydrophobia or not. 



" 'Now here is a case in point,' continued the professor. 'Last week, 

 just before I came to St. Louis, a gentleman called on me one evening at 

 my home in Cincinnati and said that he had just taken his pet dog to the 

 police station near my house to be shot; that he thought that the dog had 

 gone mad, and to be on the safe side he had decided to have him destroyed, 

 and had brought him to the station house for that purpose. It was with 

 much reluctance that he did this, however, as the dog was a household pet, 

 and its death would be keenly felt and its presence missed. The policeman 

 who was on duty at the time suggested that, as I lived near the station he 

 could call me over to look at the dog. I assured the gentleman that I 

 would go over to the station in a few minutes, and if I could do anything 

 for the animal I would use the extent of my abilities, and he returned home. 

 " 'After I had finished my dinner I went over to the police station and 

 found that the Sergeant had arrived. I asked him if he had the dog. 

 " 'Yes, said he; 'he's in that cage there." 

 " 'Bring him out,' said I. 



" 'Not on your life,' replied the Sergeant. 'I wouldn't touch that dog 

 for all the money in Hamilton County. Why, man, he's mad; I won't go 

 near him. If you want to be foolish enough to try and do anything with 

 him, go and unlock the cell yourself; I think he ought to be shot without 

 delay.' 



" 'Well, I went over to the cell and saw the dog. He was a little 

 Italian greyhound, as fragile-looking as a long-stemmed wine glass. The 

 poor little fellow was in the throes of a hard spasm as I looked at him. 

 He had his delicate, slender, head thrust between the bars in his pain, and 

 his hind-quarters were jammed in between the two adjoining uprights. He 

 looked up at me with fear showing out of his sick, brown eyes, but be- 

 trayed no signs of dog madness. He was so weak and trembling that he 

 could scarcely stand. 



" 'I unlocked the cell door and went in and picked the little fellow 

 up, and after soothing him and getting him quieted down a little, I admin- 

 istered a dose of a fractional part of a grain of morphine to ease his im- 

 mediate pain, and carried him away. A little later I gave him a small dose 

 of castor oil and put him to bed. I sat up with that dog until 3 o'clock 

 in the morning, and after he was relieved by the oil he was well, and, 

 barring the weakness resulting from his terrific spasms of the night before, 

 he was perfectly sound.' " 



(I forgot to state in this interview that before leaving the dog, and 

 after the oil, I gave him a dose of worm medicine; result was a lot of 

 worms passed, and here was the cause of this "mad dog.") 



" 'After I had arisen in the morning I telephoned the owner of the 

 dog to come and get his pet, He came, and his gratitude was manifest 

 in the way he greeted the little fellow that he had condemned to death the 

 night before, 



" 'Now, supposing that the dog had bitten the Police Sergeant. The 

 Sergeant was firmly convinced that the dog was afflicted with the rabies, 

 and if, by any possibility the dog had bitten him he would have worried 

 himself until it would have perhaps resulted in an attack of hydrophobia, 



