312 



RABIES 



The somewhat popular opinion that most of the cases of 

 rabies occur in the summer, especially in " dog days", is not 

 founded upon facts. Rabid dogs are nearly if not quite as 

 numerous in winter as in summer. Salmon has collected 

 14,066 cases of rabies in dogs with the months the disease 

 occurred. The results are exceedingly interesting as the ap- 

 pended table shows. 



CASES OF RABIES IN DOGS, BY MONTHS. 



§ 240. Symptoms. Rabies is generally divided into two 

 forms, furious and dumb rabies. In the first the animal is irri- 

 table, aggressive and bites nearly every object which comes in 

 its way ; in the second the muscles of its jaw are paralyzed 

 almost from the beginning and being unable to bite, the animal 

 remains more quiet and tranquil. Essentially the two forms 

 of the disease are the same, but probably owing to the parts 

 of the brain attacked or the acuteness of the attack or both, 

 paralysis appears much sooner in the dumb form than in the 

 other. The saliva from a case of dumb rabies is just as 

 dangerous and virulent as that from a case of furious rabies. 

 Dogs affected with dumb rabies are less dangerous simph' 

 because they are unable to bite and thus to infect others. 



Dumb rabies and furious rabies do not always represent 

 two distinct types of disease. The typical cases belong to the 

 two extremes of symptoms and there are always gradations 

 between them. In fact, almost every case of furious rabies 



