42 MANAGEMENT OF HOUNDS. 



treated by our different medical men of later years, and 

 I have little doubt that if remedies are applied imme- 

 diately the bite is inflicted a cure may be effected. 



How rabies arises it is for me impossible to determine, 

 but that it may be caused by want of water, improper 

 food, and long confinement, there is, I believe, little 

 doubt ; and I should say, it is more likely to break out 

 in the spring months, when the weather is very variable, 

 than at an}^ other season of the year. We must also 

 bear in mind that dogs are sometimes affected by fits 

 precisely in the same manner as if labouring under the 

 rabies canina ; and of this I relate an instance which 

 occurred to a dog of my own some three years since, and 

 which I have still. May not other dogs have been 

 similarly affected, and destroyed as mad ? I went out on 

 the moors for a walk in the month of May, being accom- 

 panied by a man who carried my fishing rod and basket, 

 and a terrier, which had been given me about a fortnight 

 before. This dog had been tied up in the stable of the 

 public-house where I was staying, but he had been let 

 out every day for a run, and I fed him myself to make 

 him know me. He was a young dog, not a twelvemonth 

 old, and had got over the distemper. When we had 

 walked about four miles, and were on the open moors, 

 the day being somewhat sultry, the dog suddenly^ began 

 jumping round us, as if in play, and then barking and 

 biting at our legs. My companion, although a strong 

 and resolute man, was alarmed, and said the dog was 

 going mad. I told him not to be frightened, for it was 

 only a fit, which dogs were subject to after they had had 

 the distemper. Thinking the fit would soon be over, I 

 pulled off my coat and caught the dog up in it, intending 



