HYDROPHOBIA. 



visional diagnosis may be readily made which will be confirmed or dis- 

 missed by the results of the slower but more certain inoculation method. 

 On the other hand, in the living animal the development of the charac- 

 teristic symptoms can be watched, and death will occur in not more than 

 five days. If the suspected animal has been killed, then a small piece 

 of its medulla or cord must be taken, with all aseptic precautions, rubbed 

 up in a little sterile .75 per cent sodium chloride solution, and injected 

 by means of a syringe beneath the dura mater of a rabbit, the latter 

 having been trephined over the cerebrum by means of the small trephine 

 which is made for the purpose. Symptoms usually occur in from twelve 

 to twenty-three days and death in fifteen to twenty-five days. When 

 such inoculation has to be practised it is evident that the diagnosis is 

 delayed. When the material for inoculation has to be sent any distance 

 this is best effected by packing the head of the animal in ice. The 

 virulence of organs is not lost, however, if they are simply placed in 

 sterile water or glycerin in well-stoppered bottles. 



(b) Treatment. Every wound inflicted by a rabid animal ought to 

 be cauterised with the actual cautery as soon as possible. By such treat- 

 ment the incubation period will at any rate be lengthened, and therefore 

 there will be better opportunity for the Pasteur inoculation method being 

 efficacious. The person ought then to be sent to the nearest Pasteur 

 Institute for treatment. It is of great importance that in such a case 

 the nervous system of the animal should also be sent, in order that the 

 diagnosis may be certainly verified. 



