222 CONTAGIOUS DISEASES. 



that they may have been the first to observe the madness of 

 dogs transmitted to man." Dr. Bardsley, in his Memoir on 

 Hydrophobia {Cydopcedia of Practical Mediciyie, voL ii.) says — 

 " We have already said that the disease was well known to 

 Homer, and applied by him, with his usual critical exactness 

 Df similitude, to the indiscriminate havoc with which Hector 

 sweeps through the battlefield of his enemies." 



Hippocrates alludes to hydrophobia in the faintest manner ; 

 but Democritus, who was contemporary with Hippocrates, 

 according to Ctelius Aurelianus, wrote upon the nature and 

 treatment of the disease. Aristotle, in his De Hidoria 

 Animalium says that the disease is communicable to all ani- 

 mals but man. Many other ancient and modern writers have 

 described the fearful malady : amongst the latter may be 

 mentioned Van Swieten, Sauvages, Cullen, ]\Iead, Bardsley, 

 Youatt, &c. 



In 1271 wolves became affected with rabies in Franconia, 

 and, contrary to their usual habits, they spared the herds and 

 flocks and attacked human beings : upwards of thirty men fell 

 victims to these attacks. In 1590 canine madness prevailed in 

 Spain — (Blaine.) In 1590 epizootic rabies prevailed amongst 

 the wolves in the province of Monthelliard. The further history 

 of rabies may be obtained from Dr. Fleming's excellent treatise, 

 to which the reader is referred. 



Like other epizootic and contagious diseases, its prevalence is 

 liable to many fluctuations, at times prevailing to a great extent, 

 whilst for long periods the disease is almost unheard of. During 

 the earlier portion of the present century rabies was very pre- 

 valent both in this country and on the continent of Europe, 

 not only in dogs, but in foxes as well. Since then there has 

 been an abatement in the frequency of tlie disease ; but even 

 up to the present, outbreaks are not very rare. In 1869 I 

 witnessed the disease in a pack of hounds in the north : the 

 nature of the disease was detected after one man had been 

 bitten, and he fortunately resisted the action of the poison, 

 although he took no precaution against its effects. The disease 

 has again been prevalent in 1876-7-8 in the southern and lowland 

 counties of England. 



