APPENDIX. D. 323 



the dog, as it was never imagined to be a self-generated disease 

 in any other animal. 



This statement alone, on such authority, ought to go far 

 towards allaying the public terrors on this subject, and to miti- 

 gating the absurd ferocity of the laws annually passed by those 

 everywhere on earth most stupid, ignorant, obstinate, prejudiced, 

 and tyrannical of all bodies — I mean aldermanic corporations ! 

 It may be held as a'positive and established fact, that unless 

 bitten by other dogs, dogs never go mad ! 



I now proceed to an important portion of Mr. Blaine's obser- 

 vations on the alleged causes of rabies. 



" The remote causes of spontaneous rabies, as advocated by the 

 favorers of that doctrine, are various. Heat has long been con- 

 sidered as a grand agent, but the direct proofs to the contrary 

 are fast wearing away this prejudice. It is known that many 

 countries under the torrid zone are entirely free from canine 

 madness : and in such hot countries as it is found, it does not 

 appear that by the heat of the climate it gains any accession to 

 its frequency or morbid character. We have Burrows' authority 

 for stating, that it is almost, if not entirely, unknown over the 

 vast continent of South America. In many of the western isles 

 it is a stranger ; and, in Egypt, Volney says he never heard of 

 it. Larrey, Brown, and others, inform us, that it has never 

 visited the burning clime of Syria. Neither is it more prevalent 

 in cold climates : and although it sometimes visits northern 

 latitudes, it shews no preference for them, and, in Greenland, 

 is said to be altogether unknown. In temperate climates, on 

 the contrary, it is most prevalent, not perhaps owing anything 

 to an extra-tropical situation, but merely because in such lati- 

 tudes the most populous countries are usually situated ; and, in 

 such, all matters of interest are more likely to be noticed. In 

 the United States of America, it is sufficiently frequent, and 

 throughout Europe we are but too well acquainted with it. 

 Seasons have also been alleged as the probable cause of mad- 

 ness among dogs, and as might be supposed summer has long 

 been famed for its superior power of engendering it ; and the 



