SPECIES AND VARIETIES. 697 



When the disease is communicated to the human species, 

 the symptoms may be described, but no description can paint 

 the agonies of the sufferer. The disease generally appears 

 before the sixtieth day ; but often the virus remains dormant 

 in the system for a longer period, sometimes for several 

 months, and some say, but happily it is believed erroneously, 

 for several years. The human sufferer has not, like the dog, 

 an unnatural thirst, but, on the contrary, is terrified at the 

 sight of liquids, so that it is in the human subject only that 

 the disease can be called Hydrophobia. The human sufferer, 

 like the dog, fancies himself surrounded by spectral images ; 

 and, strange to say, may be recalled from the dreadful visions 

 by the voice of a friend, and for a short interval be restored 

 to all his faculties. Often he acquires an amazing strength, 

 so that several men may be required to hold a stripling. The 

 following is a case of a human patient, cited by Mr Youatt, 

 from Dr Bardsley : " I observed that he frequently fixed his 

 eyes with horror and affright on some ideal object, and then, 

 with a sudden and violent exertion, buried his head beneath the 

 bed-clothes. The next time I saw him repeat this action, I 

 was induced to inquire into the cause of his terror. He asked 

 whether I had not heard bowlings and scratchings. On being 

 answered in the negative, he suddenly threw himself on his 

 knees, extending his arm in a defensive posture, and forcibly 

 threw back his head and body. The muscles of the face 

 were agitated by various spasmodic contractions ; his eye- 

 balls glazed, and seemed ready to start from their sockets ; 

 and, at that moment, when crying out in an agonizing tone, 

 ' Do you not see that black dog,' his countenance and atti- 

 tude exhibited the most dreadful picture of complicated hor- 

 ror, distress, and rage, that words can describe or imagina- 

 tion paint." 



The same frightful malady may be conveyed to different 

 animals, the Ox, the Sheep, the Horse, the Cat, affecting 

 each in a different manner. It is not unfrequently commu- 

 nicated to horses by the little dogs kept in stables. These 



