236 OUR HUMBLE HELPERS 



" First of all, I will refute two erroneous assump- 

 tions that are widely held and that might become 

 fatal by imparting a false security. It is generally 

 believed that a mad dog is always in a state of fury. 

 That this frenzied condition shows itself when the 

 disease is at its height, is very true; but also noth- 

 ing is more utterly false as to the first stages of the 

 malady. Far from being seized with attacks of 

 fury, the dog just beginning to be infected shows, 

 on the contrary, an excess of affectionate feelings: 

 by multiplied caresses it seems to beg of man some 

 sort of help against the vague terrors with which it 

 is tormented. Secondly, it is popularly maintained 

 that a mad dog does not drink and manifests a 

 great horror of water, and that no dog seen in the 

 act of drinking can be mad. This notion is so 

 deeply rooted in most minds that, to designate 

 rabies there has been formed, from two Greek 

 words, the special term, hydrophobia, signifying 

 horror of water. Well, my friends, never forget 

 this: no matter what the Greek term says, a mad 

 dog drinks very well; it drinks greedily every time 

 it has the chance, without manifesting any aversion 

 whatever toward the water. Later, when the ani- 

 mal is near its end, the throat contracts and swal- 

 lowing becomes impossible. Then, and not till then, 

 the dog shuns drink with horror. Therefore, far 

 from reassuring us, it is on the contrary an added 

 cause for alarm when we see a dog becoming more 

 affectionate than usual and drinking with unaccus- 

 tomed avidity. 



