RABIES. 261 



rabid, and advised Mr. Reynolds to have him destroyed." Before, how- 

 ever, the pistols could be got ready, he broke loose, and first made at those 

 in attendance, then turned into the next stall, and died instantly. No 

 trace of any bite from a dog existed ; nor was anything unusual noticed, 

 about the horse preceding the attack — unless it was that a lameness 

 under which he laboured, had left three or four days before. . " He was 

 at work within four hours of his seizure." Mr. Marshall examined him 

 immediately after death, and " found the upper and back part of his 

 tongue, epiglottis, and the membrane of the windpipe, in a high state of 

 inflammation : the lungs also gorged with blood. The brain, stomach, and 

 every part of the viscera, were in perfect health." 



The Interval between the Bite and the Appearance of the 

 Disease is, according to Mr. Blaine, the same in horses as in other 

 animals, "from five weeks to three months : but I have observed," con- 

 tinues Mr. Blaine, '^s in dogs, its attack is always quickest when the 

 bite has been received in the head." 



The Morbid Appearances, in every case in which Mr. Youatt has had 

 an opportunity of examining the animal after death, have been "in- 

 flammation on the glottis, and generally on the trachea. There has 

 uniformly been inflammation in the stomach, and on the lungs, and in 

 patches, as in the dog. Either the membranes or substance of the 

 medulla oblongata have always been injected." 



Treatment. — Should not the master put an end to the animal's 

 sufferings. Nature will. The disease "rarely extends beyond the third 

 day" What most concerns us, is, the prevention of the disease: 

 supposing we are consulted in the interval between the bite and the 

 accession of its consequences. The parts should be excised, and the 

 surface afterwards seared with the flat part of a hot firing iron. This 

 will answer the double purpose of destroying the poison, and of stanching 

 the hemorrhage. Should there be any objection to the actual cautery, 

 make use of caustic : the lunar caustic is the best. Indeed, so efficacious 

 has this been found in man, that, could we only be certain every part of 

 the tainted surface had been submitted to its operation, there would be 

 little to apprehend as to the result. 



VENOMOUS BITES AND STINGS. 



These injuries are produced by insects and reptiles, 

 whose bite or sting is often fatal. Serpents, in particular, 

 are known to possess this property : though in Great Britain 

 we have but one creature of the kind indigenous — the 

 adder. 



