92 NOTITIA VENATICA. 



])airs of scissors, with many other things too numerous to mention here. 

 Also a good dry cupboard, invariably under lock and key, containing, 

 ready for use, a large bottle of tincture of rhubarb, a large flask of 

 castor oil, liniment for bites, cuts, »fcc., a box containing the calomel 

 and antimony pills, some Venice turpentine, mercurial ointment, jar of 

 sharp-water, spirit of tar, bottle of eye-water, a pound or two of cream 

 of tartar, &c. To these may be added, to be kept dry, two or three 

 hundred-weight of sulphur, and a large stone bottle of spirit of turpen- 

 tine ; also a large barrel of chalk. In using any lotion, sharp-water, 

 &c., a small quantity should be poured into a bottle for immediate use, 

 as constantly opening a large bottle considerably weakens its medicinal 

 properties. 



Section Ninth. 



ox RABIES CANINA, OR DOG MADNESS. 



It may seem almost impossible, amongst the various opinions that 

 have been given by those authors who have before written upon this 

 subject (and whose authority upon other canine diseases may have never 

 been for one moment called in question), both with regard to the origin 

 and also the reproduction of this dreadful malady, for any one to decide 

 positively Avhether " Rabies Canina" can be produced in dogs spontane- 

 ously, or from the effects of a wound inflicted by the teeth of a rabid 

 animal alone. Facts, however, as we have been often told, are " stub- 

 born things," and to facts alone ought we to look for a proof of that doc- 

 trine which we may wish to estabhsh. The disciples of Dr. Hamilton 

 are considerably on the decline, but arc still occasionally to be met Avith, 

 although Mr. Blaine, in his " Canine Pathology," has most clearly ex- 

 plained that the disease is not produced without inoculation. In page 

 226 he says, in one of the marginal notes, in speaking of the epidemic 

 fury with which it seemed at times to have raged, according to many 

 historical accounts, " Not that I believe the rabid malady ever arises 

 spontaneously, but that sometimes the inoculation of it takes place 

 under circumstances particularly favourable to its rise and future propa- 

 -gation." And in page 234 we find the following remark — " As far as 

 mine own experience goes, as far as close observation and attentive con- 

 sideration have enabled me to judge, I have no hesitation to give it as 

 my opinion that the disease is never now of spontaneous origin. Among 

 my most unlimited opportunities of remarking the subject, I never met 

 with one instance of rabies in a dog wholly excluded from the access of 

 others." If any one will give himself the trouble, or rather the plea- 

 sure, of reading Mr. Blaine's chapter upon canine madness, he Avill 

 meet with abundance of anecdotes illustrative of the positive proof of 

 the disease being propagated by inoculation alone, and of the extreme 

 folly of supposing that it is produced by excessive heat, unwholesome 

 food, an arid state of the blood, or from any other remote causes. I 

 will, therefore, merely refer my readers to those interesting pages, 

 without copying out their coutents, as it is far from my wish to crowd 



