MAD DOGS. 239 



ascertaining; namely, that in no one in- 

 stance, did a dog become mad, after remain- 

 ing well for a month after the bite. The 

 usual period in India, at least, as far 

 as came under my observation, was from 

 fourteen to twenty five days after the recep- 

 tion of the poison. There is a generally 

 received opinion in India, that dogs and 

 jackals become more frequently mad there, 

 in consequence of the number of putrid 

 human carcass which they have to feed on. 

 But this idea, I think is erroneous; because 

 at Chittrah, rabid animals are as common 

 as in any part of India, or perhaps more 

 so; yet in that place, no human carcass is 

 to be seen, in consequence of the abundance 

 of fuel to be procured for nothing, which 

 enables the inhabitants to burn their dead, 

 a ceremony from which the Hindoos are in 

 any place prevented only, by a scarcity of 

 fuel. 



I may remark another curious circumstance 

 which I have repeatedly and invariably ob- 



