OR MADNESS. 247 



may make its way into the constitution through the metliuni 

 of an epithelium, or mucous surface, as that of the nostrils. 

 lips, or eyelids'^; and with still less probability or fact to sup- 

 port their theory, some suppose that the surface of the skin 

 throng-hout is capable of being- penetrated with the poison by 

 the simple application of it to the unabraded surface. A very 

 few only have been led into an opinion tfsat it was possible 

 for the rabid virus to enter the circulation through the me- 

 dium of matters taken into the stomach t. But, however 



scalded : nevertheless the rabies again aj^peared. Mr. Trevai.yan wai- 

 now more than ever convinced that some subtle contagion lodged con- 

 cealed within the apertures of the benches or pavement ; the whole was 

 therefore removed, and the edifice was again white-washed and painted, 

 after which no rabies appeared. Puzzling as this appears to one who 

 argues that no contagion can lurk thus unseen, and be generated by 

 inhalation, it may yet be satisfactorily accounted for by another state- 

 ment, equally true, that fell under my own immediate cognizance. I 

 was requested, in 1821, by Mr. Yates, of Tring Park, to examine two 

 servants, a huntsman and whipper-in, who had been bitten by a hound 

 evidently rabid. I cauterised the wounds many days after the accident, 

 and neither of tljem felt any future inconvenience from the accident. 

 Three or four of the hounds had already become rabid in succession, 

 and it -was proposed to destroy the remainder ; to which I objected, and 

 recommended that a minute examination should be made of them indi- 

 vidually every day. Every now and then, however, for months after- 

 wards, an individual was attacked with madness, and, at length, the 

 whole were destroyed, and Mr. Y. procured a new pad, which have 

 never become affected, although living in the same kennel, without any 

 precautions having been made use of to prevent latent contagion. 



* On tfie authority of Dr. Perceval, Dr. Bardsley tells us of a man, 

 who, daring his sleep on the ground, was licked about the mouth (but 

 not bitten) by an infected dog. He was seized with hydrophobia, and 

 die ' of the disease : but this case, it should be remembered, was always 

 considered questionable. 



f Palmerius states, that he was an eye witness to the death of several 

 horses and cows which had eaten the litter on which some rabid swine 

 had lain. But we need not wonder at so gross an error having been 

 transmitted to us by former authorities, when we find Dr. Parry (who 

 appears particularly in the character of a critical arbiter between what 

 is erroneous and true on the subject of rabies, as well symptomatic as 



