142 FACT AGAINST FICTION. 



latter may have had It before; but in ninety-nine 

 cases out of the hundred the old hound, who in his 

 youth has had the distemper, will take it but very 

 slightly. 



The young hounds, for that reason, should 

 always have a kennel to themselves, from which 

 the contact of even a nose with the nose of an old 

 hound should be impossible. Biting, of course, 

 would be out of the question; but a bite would 

 carry with it no more than the simple contact or 

 inoculation from the nose. The bite of a mad 

 dog, mad only from distemj^er, or what is called 

 ^^ rabies," is harmless as to any fatal infection, and 

 a person said to have been bitten by that dreaded 

 thing, a ^^mad dog," need have no horrible fore- 

 bodings of after consequences, if the owner of the 

 hound or dog has sense enough to ascertain the 

 true cause of the insanity. A dog reported mad 

 should never he destroyed; he should be taken up 

 and securely confined. If he recovers, then the 

 mind of whoever he has bitten is at once relieved 

 of dread ; if the hound or dog laj)s water and dies, 

 the person who has been bitten is no worse off 

 than he was before, and if the dog lapped water, 

 then there is no cause for dread. 



