SCM* RABIES CANINA, 



morbid character^. We have Burrows' authority for stating, that 

 it is almost, if not entirely, unknown over the vast continent of 

 South America. In many of the western isles it is a stranger ; 

 and, in Egypt, Volney says he never heard of it. Larrey, Brown, 

 and others, inform us, that it has never visited the burning clime 

 of Syria. Neither is it more prevalent in cold climates ; and 

 although it sometimes visits northern latitudes, it shews no pre- 

 ference for them, and, in Greenland, is said to be altogether un- 

 known. In temperate climates, on the contrary, it is most pre- 

 valent, not perhaps owing any thing to an extra-tropical situation, 

 but merely because in such latitudes the most populous countries 

 are usually situated ; and, in such, all matters of interest are more 

 likely to be noticed. In the United States of America, it is suffi- 

 ciently frequent^, and throughout Europe we are but too well ac- 

 quainted with it. 



Seasons have also been alleged as the probable cause of madness 

 among dogs ; and, as might be supposed, summer has long been 

 famed for its superior power of engendering it ; and the dog-days 

 probably owe their name to the fancied prevalence of it then^. 

 But it is now sufficiently notorious that rabies is not more common 

 at one season than at another9. 



® It cannot, however, be denied, that heat accelerates the attack in such dogs 

 as have been bitten, particularly when conjoined with great bodily excitement. 

 In this way, a dog that has been inoculated, but in which the disease might 

 not appear probably for weeks, by taking long and severe exercise in very hot 

 weather, is almost certain to be attacked with it the next day. This I have 

 witnessed in several instances, but in no dog that I could not distinctly trace 

 the cause to having been bitten. Bitches in heat, and the dogs which follow 

 them) are thus exposed to have the attack hastened also ; but these circum- 

 stances never generate it, as supposed by some persons. 



^ Med. Trans. Philadelph., vol. i. — Med. Inquir. PJdladelph., 1798. 

 ^ When Sirius reigns, and the Sun's parching beams 

 Bake the dry gaping surface, visit thou 

 Each ev'n and morn, with quick observant eye, 

 The panting pack. If in dark sullen mood, &c. &c. — Somerville. 

 " Hurtrel d'Arboval observes, that rabies among dogs is most frequent in 

 France in May and September, and that March and April usually produce the 



