144 THE DISEASES OF DOMESTIC AXIMALS. 



IS'umerous cases have undoubtedly been reported in tlie various 

 medical journals ; but the time at m j disposal has been so limited 

 and interrupted by other calls upon it, that it has been impossible 

 for me to pass them in review. 



As has been repeatedly emphasized, rabies occurs especially in 

 the dog, then in the wolf, cat, and fox ; also in the jackal, hy- 

 ena, badger, as well as in the horse, sheep, goat, swine, deer, ante- 

 lope, and rabbit ; but it is originally a canine disease. It is not 

 definitely known when man first came to a realization of this dis- 

 ease among animals. Aristotle, 322 b. c, makes the first undoubted 

 mention of the disease among dogs. Xenophon, Democritus, and 

 others, also mention it. Hippocrates, 460 b. c, has not left any- 

 thing in the writings which have come down to us to render it cer- 

 tain that he knew of the disease. Later authors, however — as Yir- 

 gil, Horace, Ovid, Plutarch — seem to have been well acquainted 

 with it. Celsus says : " When a wound resulting from a bite is not 

 at once energetically treated, then follows hydroj)hobia, a most ter- 

 rible evil, that permits of neither hope nor salvation for the person 

 bitten. We should seek to withdraw the poison by means of dry- 

 cupping, and, when possible, by firing, and, when that is impossible, 

 by corrosion and bleeding." 



Galen, 131-201 a. d., describes the disease as the most fearful 

 known to man. As a prophylactic he mentions cutting out the 

 wound. 



From this time on, notwithstanding much was written upon the 

 subject, little new was added to the knowledge of the ancient au- 

 thors until the latter part of the last century and the first of this. 

 There is still room for much work upon the subject. 



This disease, like many others, seems to be wanting in character- 

 istic pathological phenomena, while its clinical or iutra-vital phenom- 

 ena are so striking that he who sees them once in well-developed 

 form will scarcely ever forget them. 



The most important workers in this important field have been 

 Chabert, John Hunter, Meynell, Touatt, Hertwig, Magendie, Bruck- 

 miiller, Bouley, Yirchow, and many other eminent scientists. 



The best work accessible to the American reader is undoubtedly 

 the compilation of the English veterinary author, Mr, George Flem- 

 ing, " Eabies and Hydrophobia," London, 1872. 



Whatever may have been the historic origin of this disease, it 

 like many other contagious diseases does not originate spontane- 

 ously, but in our day owes its origin to the bite of the rabid animal, 

 especially the dog, and owes its extension to this means alone. It 



