HYDROPHOBIA IN MAN. 657 



greatly startled by a black cat having been suddenly thrown on her while she was not looking. 

 The fright was severe ; all day she evinced extreme uneasiness and restlessness, looked strange 

 about the eyes, which were congested, and the flow of saliva was increased ; drank much, but 

 would not eat. Took her to our bed-room for safety sake, as she cares only for us. At first 

 slept a little, but evidently had bad dreams ; awoke, and till far into the morning saw things 

 about the room, and kept constantly snapping at imaginary flies, &c., &c. She was quite well 

 again in a day or two. 



There is another type or form of rabies, to which the name of dumb madness, or tranquil 

 madness, has been given to distinguish it from the furious rabies. It is characterised by a 

 greater intensity of pharyngeal and laryngeal symptoms, and there is probably less brain mischief. 

 There is dumbness that is, an entire absence of the peculiar bark heard in the furious type ; 

 there is, however, a strange, harsh noise of roughened windpipe. There is partial or complete 

 paralysis of the elevator muscles of the lower jaw, abundance of saliva ; the creature has 

 altogether a mournfully dejected look, a strange glitter in the eye from dilated pupil ; he prefers 

 to keep away in a corner, and seems to have little inclination to bite, even if he could. 



This form of rabies is often seen in kennels affected with the furious form, some of the 

 animals dying from one type of the disease, others from the other. 



Hydrophobia in Man. 



Hydrophobia in the human being is always considered by competent authorities to be 

 equivalent to, or, in fact, the same disease as rabies in the canine race, and always transmitted 

 to him from the bite of a dog or some other rabid animal. 



That one-half of the cases we hear of and read of are really and truly hydrophobia we 

 do not for one moment believe. 



We do not for one moment believe that any case of true hydrophobia ever occurred in 

 the human subject as the sequence to a wound from an animal that was not rabid. 



We do believe that there really are cases of a kind of spurious hydrophobia induced by 

 fear, and of this nature we doubt not are those cases of the disease which are reported to 

 have occurred after the bites of animals undeniably in good health. 



We do firmly believe that there is no more danger to be apprehended from the bite of a 

 healthy dog, or cat either, than there is from the scratch of a clean knife, and not half so 

 much as there is from a stab with a rusty rail. 



Symptoms of hydrophobia. On the symptoms of true hydrophobia we have little need to 

 dwell, and just as little inclination. After a period of incubation, varying in length with the 

 temperament and idiosyncrasy of the individual, there is usually, though by no means invariably, 

 some slight pain and tingling in the cicatrix of the wound, followed by shooting pains in 

 the bitten limb. At the same time there will be nervous feelings, innate fear of something 

 impending, restlessness, and indigestion. These premonitory symptoms are not always present ; 

 but when they are, they to a certain extent resemble those from incipient delirium tremens 

 from alcoholism. The more advanced symptoms are unhappily too well known to need de- 

 scription. If the reader is much interested in the subject, he will find a capital description of 

 it in the first volume of Watson's " Practice of Physic," p. 589. 



The most characteristic symptoms of the disease are the terrible spasms, and horrible fear 

 of impending death, and the viscid saliva that clings to the mouth, and constricted throat. 

 These spasms we have seen induced by the sound of one drop of water dropped from the medical 

 attendant's finger into a saucer, and latterly by the very sight of fluid. 



83 



