302 DISEASES OF TRUE INFECTION 



The most effective method of preventing the spread of rabies is to 

 register all dogs claimed by owners, and all stray dogs should bo destroyed, 

 and when there is a case of rabies or a suspicion of such, all dogs should 

 be put under observation, nuizzknl or put on a leash, and any dog 

 known or suspected of having been bitten by a rabid dog should be 

 confined and watched by a competent veterinarian and if found to 

 develop the active symptoms it should be immediately destroyed and 

 the head sent to the local live stock sanitary board laboratory for 

 examination. 



In the largo cities all dogs, if they are worth keeping as pets, should 

 be taxed and all vagrant mongrels taken up and destroyed. In America 

 and England where they have made a close study of the spread of rabies 

 and have reached the conclusion that while muzzling is a protective 

 measure, it is by far the least point of danger, for an owner that Vvill 

 take the trouble to muzzle his dog is one who closely observes his animal 

 and at the first sign of the disease has him examined. Invariably the 

 outbreaks of disease originate either in the slums of cities or little villages, 

 where the low class of ignorant shiftless masses live, who protect and 

 have around their places a number of mongrel curs that are valueless; 

 the owners or protectors of these pariahs will neither observe their animals 

 nor restrain them when they develop rabies, but drive them off, or 

 allow them to go on their travels to bite and tear every animal that 

 comes in contact with them. Taxation has been tested out in Europe and 

 in every case where mongrels were gathered up and destroyed rabies 

 decreased one-half or more — in some cases not a single case was recorded. 



Tuberculosis. 



Under this name we class all affections w^hich owe their origin to a 

 peculiar specific bacterium known as "tubercle bacillus," discovered by 

 Koch. These are found in all tubercular deposits in man or in animals, 

 whether they occur spontaneously or are inoculated. Under the micro- 

 scope they appear in the shape of very narrow non-flagellated rods often 

 slightly curved, fi-om 2 to 4/( long. The organism shows many variations 

 in its morphology under different conditions. It often occurs in isolated 

 clumps, either in cultures or in tissues. In certain cultures and in ani- 

 mal tissues it grows in the form of longer or shorter branching threads 

 (Ricketts). 



The tubercle bacilli should be considered as true parasites which 

 multiply and live in the body only, but they also seem to possess the 

 property of living outside of the body for a certain length of time, as 

 the excretions of tuberculous animals can be used successfully to in- 

 oculate other animals. ^^'e therefore conclude that tuberculosis is only 



