TIABIES, OR iMAUXESS. ITS 



RABIES, OR MADNESS. 

 This is anotlier and fearful disease of the nervous system. It results 

 from the bite of a rabid animal, and most commonly of the companion 

 and friend of the horse, the coach-dog. The account now given of this 

 malady is extracted from lectures which the author of the present work 

 delivered to his class. There is occasional warning of the approach of this 

 disease in the horse, or rather of the existence of some unusual malady, 

 the real nature of which is probably mistaken. A mare, belonging to Mr, 

 Karslake, had, ten days before the recognition of the disease, been droop- 

 ing, refusing her food, heaving at the flanks, and pawing occasionally. 

 It was plain enough that she was indisposed, but at length the furious tit 

 came upon her, and she destroyed almost everything in the stable in the 

 course of an hour. The late Mr. Moneyment had a two-years-old colt 

 brought to his establishment. It was taken ill in the afternoon of the 

 preceding day, when it first atti-acted attention by I'cfusing its food, and 

 throwing itself down and getting up again immediately. From siich a 

 description, Mr. Moneyment concluded that it was a case of cholic ; but, 

 when he went into the yard, and saw the pony, and observed his wild and 

 anxious countenance, and his excessive nervous sensibility, he was con- 

 vinced that something uncommon was amiss vsath him, although he did 

 not at first suspect the real nature of the case. 



The early symptoms of rabies in the horse have not been carefully 

 observed or well recorded ; but, in the majority of cases, so far as our 

 records go, there will not often be premonitory symptoms sufficiently 

 decisive to be noticed by the groom. 



The horse goes out to his usual work, and, for a certain time and dis- 

 tance, perfoi^ms it as well as he had been accustomed to do : then he stops 

 all at once — trembles, heaves, paws, staggers, and falls. Almost im- 

 mediately he rises, drags his load a little further, and again stops, looks 

 about him, backs, staggers, and falls once more. This is not a fit of me- 

 grims — it is not a sudden determination of blood to the brain, for the horse 

 is not for a single moment insensible. The sooner he is led home the better, 

 for the progress of the disease is as rapid as the first attack is sudden ; 

 and, possibly, he "svdll fall t^^'ice or thrice before he reaches his stable. 



In the great majority of cases — or, rather, A\dth very few exceptions — 

 a state of excitation ensues, which is not exceeded by that of the dog 

 under the most fearful form of the malady ; but there are intervals when, 

 if he had been naturally good-tempered and had been attached to his rider 

 or his groom, he will recognise his former friend and seek his caresses, 

 and bend on him one of those piteous, searching looks, Avhich, once 

 observed, will never be forgotten : but there is danger about this. Pi'C- 

 sently succeeds another paroxysm, without warning and -without control ; 

 and there is no safety for him who had previously the most complete 

 masteiy over the animal. 



I was once attending a rabid horse. The owner would not have him 

 destroyed, under the vain hope that I had mistaken a case of phrenitis for 

 one of rabies, and that the disease might yield to the profuse abstraction 

 of blood that I had been prevailed on to effect, and the puigative influence 

 of the farina of the croton-nut, with which he had been abundantly sup- 

 plied in an early stage of the malady. I insisted on his being slung, so 

 that we Avere protected from injury from his kicking or plunging. He 

 would bend his gaze upon me as if he would search me through and 

 through, and would prevail on me, if I could, to relieve him from some 

 dreadful evil by which he was threatened. He would then press his head 

 against my bosom, and keep it there a minute or more. All at once, 



