280 THE DISEASES AND DISORDERS OE THE 6X. 



difficulty may be either cause or consequence of dread, or the 

 two phenomena may be so inseparably connected as not to be 

 capable of being satisfactorily unravelled. In any case, the 

 fear of liquids seems to be due to the difficulty of swallowing, 

 and there may be spasms of the pharynx, oesophagus, and other 

 organs near. A similar fear of water is said to be manifested in 

 patients suffering from other diseases such as phrenitis, hysteria, 

 and gastritis. Moreover, rabid animals seem to be possessed 

 with an intense fear of every object, whether living or inanimate. 

 On the whole, everything being considered, it may appear to be 

 the case that by the use of the word hydropliohia we might be 

 giving undue prominence to one symptom which seems to be a 

 minor and rather unimportant one, at auy rate so far as animals 

 are concerned. In short, in reference to animals the name 

 rabies appears to be the more correct one of the two. Probably 

 many will prefer the word hydrophohia for the same disease 

 when attacking human beings. 



At the outset we may say that the disturbances of the nervous 

 system which sometimes mark the beginning of cattle-plague are 

 to be compared with the symptoms of rabies in the ox. The fits 

 of delirium which occasionally appear in cattle-plague, as well as 

 the great depressian, apathy, and unsteady gait, have some 

 resemblance to similar manifestations shown at a certain stage of 

 rabies. This similarity is, however, only very superficial, and 

 the temperature is much elevated in the case of animals suffering 

 from cattle-plague. 



Some little time ago, in the year 1887, a poor fellow died in 

 Nottingham of hydrophobia, which, as our readers are fully aware, 

 is identically the same as rabies, and can apparently only be 

 produced as a consequence of the bite of rabid animals. (How- 

 ever, an exception to this last statement has been recorded quite 

 recently. A short time ago a man died of hydrophobia, and upon 

 inquiry no history of a bite could be elicited.) A dog had run 

 into the man's house after a cat. The man, after succeeding in 

 separating the animals, had received a bite from the dog while 

 taking it out from the place in which it had secreted itself. 

 After some time (our readers will recollect that a man cannot be 

 considered safe from the disease until twelve months at least 

 have elapsed) the man was attacked with this terrible affliction, 

 and died in great agony, shrieking out " Oh, why was I 



