376 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Rabies. 



In the first semiannual report of the Chief of the Cattle 

 Bureau, last July, it was said that cases of rabies had been 

 of very infrequent occurrenoe in Massachusetts for the last 

 two or three years. But two authentic cases have occurred 

 during the year. One, mentioned in the previous report, 

 was that of the bull terrier owned in Chelmsford, which bit 

 a St. Bernard dog and two horses, the property of his owner. 

 After biting them he was killed, and the head was sent to 

 Dr. Frothingham at the Harvard Medical School for exami- 

 nation. On experiment, all animals inoculated died with 

 rabies. The other dog and two horses were kept under 

 observation for ninety days from the time they were bitten, 

 and they were then released from quarantine, never having 

 shown any symptoms of the disease. 



June 3, the head of a dog, supposed to have rabies, was 

 sent in by Dr. E. A. Madden of Watertown, but the rabbits 

 inoculated did not develop the disease, 



August 5, the body of a Boston terrier w^as sent from 

 Lynn. The owner was anxious, as the dog had appeared 

 to be ill-tempered for a number of days, and had bitten two 

 young ladies, one just before he was sent to the Medical 

 School, and the other two or three weeks before. Rabbits 

 inoculated with the material from his brain remained 

 healthy ; the dog, therefore, was free from rabies. 



August 22, Dr. J. R. McLaughlin, inspector of animals 

 of Newton, sent the head of a dog to the Medical School to 

 be tested to see whether it had rabies or not, but the results 

 were negative. 



About December 20, a stray dog was shot in Pittsfield by 

 a Mr. Hay, a butcher, and the head was sent to the Medical 

 School by Dr. G. N. Kinnell, the inspector of animals at 

 Pittsfield. Two rabbits, inoculated subdurally by Dr. Froth- 

 ingham, developed rabies December 31. This animal was 

 an ownerless dog ; no one knows from whence he came ; but 

 as they had an outbreak of rabies two or three years ago in 

 New York State, between Pittsfield and Albany, it is possible 



