294 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Permission to kill such dogs is hereby granted under the fol- 

 lowing conditions : an owner desiring to kill a dog in quarantine 

 is to notify the local inspector of animals or an agent of the 

 Cattle Bureau, and either the inspector or the agent is to be 

 present when the dog is killed, and report the killing of the 

 same to the Chief of tlie Cattle Bureau. 



Austin Peters, 



Chief of Cattle Bureau. 

 State House, Boston, Oct. 2, 1905. 



The usual period to elapse between the time a bite is in- 

 flicted by a rabid dog and the manifestation of the disease is 

 from three to four weeks, l)ut instances have been known 

 where the symptoms have not developed for several months, 

 A quarantine of ninety days, however, seems to aflbrd a 

 certain amount of protection, and it is not reasonable to 

 expect owners to maintain it for a greater length of time. 



Several cases of rabies developed in Northbridge within a 

 little over two weeks from the time dogs were bitten by the 

 stray dog which w^as there July 29 and 30, three dogs with 

 rabies being killed Auo-ust 15. In one instance a doof de- 

 veloped the malady October 3, more than sixty days from 

 the date he was bitten ; and in another instance a hound is 

 believed to have developed the disease in the same town 

 December 31, or live months from the date of exposure, 

 and two months after having been released from (|uarantine. 



In many cases it has ])een considered desirable to verify 

 the diagnosis of rabies in the laboratory, especially in 

 instances where persons have been bitten. The method 

 formerly employed was the intracranial injection of material 

 from the base of the brain and si)inal cord of the suspected 

 animals into rabbits or guinea pigs, after etherizing them 

 and trei)]iining the skull. This method required an interval 

 of from twelve to fourteen days bcfori; the experimental 

 animal showed sym[)toms of disease ; and where it was im- 

 portant that the person bitten should know soon whether it 

 was necessary to obtain preventive treatment, it caused a 

 delay that might in some instances prove dangerous. 



A method by which a microscopic examination of the brain 

 of an animal could determine at onct; whether it was suH'cr- 



