230 CONTAGIOUS DISEASES. 



gait is unsteady, the tail droops, the head is depressed, the nose 

 protruded ; the fits of rage become shorter, those of depres- 

 sion longer ; scent, sight, and hearing are much impaired ; in- 

 sensibiHty to pain, which is generally present from the earliest 

 stages, is more and more manifest ; and finally paralysis, parti- 

 cularly of the hind limbs, supervenes, and if not destroyed, the dog 

 dies, an emaciated, repulsive object, the desire to bite remaining 

 to the last. In the dumb form, the ability to bite is lost, as well 

 as the power to lap fluids. The exposed and protruded tongue is 

 covered with a stringy, tenacious saliva ; the desire to drink is 

 even more intense than in the furious form, and attempts to lap 

 and swallow become painful to witness. Squinting of one or 

 both eyes has been observed ; there is also abdominal pains in 

 some instances, and an inflamed condition of the nasal cavities, 

 larynx, and bronchial tubes. There is no tendency to harm and 

 bite surrounding objects, and the dog dies from coma, exhaus- 

 tion, and suffocation. Both forms of the disease terminate in 

 death in from four to eight days. It is, however, reported that 

 some chronic cases of rabies exist for an indefinite period. 



With regard to the dread of water — hydrophobia — wliich has 

 been looked upon by some as the diagnostic symptom of the 

 disease, I may repeat that it is absent in the dog. The desire 

 fdr water is always excessive; there is inability to swallow 

 fluids, hence a dog will plung his nose deeply into water, lap it 

 with avidity, but owing to the thirst being still unallayed, he will 

 become greatly agitated, and is thus often thrown into a state of 

 fury or of involuntary spasms. 



Causes and syvijJtoms in the Horse. — Eabies in the horse occurs 

 from the bite or contact of the saliva of a dog or cat, generaUj'- from 

 that of the dog. The disease is manifested in a variety of ways. 

 In some cases it commences by great apparent distress, with 

 sudden perspirations over the body; unruliness,the horse stamping 

 and pawing violently, finally becoming frantic, and destroying 

 everything within its reach. In other cases, along with restless- 

 ness, there is manifested a desire to bite the seat of injury. In 

 one case that came under my notice, where the horse had been 

 bitten on the breast, three months before any symptoms of 

 rabies were visible, the animal during the paroxysms continually 

 bit the cicatrix, until at last the whole sternal region was 

 denuded of its skin ; there was also intolerance to light, great 

 nervousness, the animal being easily startled, with fixity of the 



