OR CANINE MADNESS. 207 



therefore, we have as much right to assign the palm of priority to 

 the wolf as to the dog ; and could this attached friend of man 

 speak for himself, he would willingly give up his claim : as, how- 

 ever, the traditions of three thousand years have assigned it to 

 the dog, let it rest. Thefo^v, we have also sufficient proof, is a 

 subject of the affection ; yet the extreme rarity of vulpine rabies, 

 even in those countries where he abounds, would lead us to con- 

 clude, either that his inherent aptitude to germinate the contagion 

 is small, or that his solitary habits exclude him from attack. Of 

 the chacal or jackal^ as a canine congener, I know nothing deci- 

 sive : he has been said to have been seen rabid ; but I believe the 

 authority is questionable. Some of the favourers of a spontaneous 

 origin in the disease include the cat also : we certainly do know 

 that this animal is capable of receiving and of communicating it, 

 but we have not one authentic fact of which I am aware to give us 

 reason to suppose it is ever generated by grimalkin : there have 

 been also statements of the same kind with regard to other animals, 

 and to man also ; but they are wholly unauthenticated, and very 

 generally disbelieved : we must, therefore, yet wait ere we are fully 

 certified on this head. 



JVhat rabid animals are capable of communicating it. — For a 

 long time, the facts which should elucidate this point accumulated 

 so slowly, and then were so discrepant, that it was difficult to come 

 to any conclusion on it. At first the propagation was thought to 

 be limited to the canine and feline genera : gradually we were 

 constrained to admit that other quadrupeds besides these had by 

 their bite produced it also ; but as such as could be well authen- 

 ticated were partially if not wholly carnivorous, so the capability 



sufferings ; and as his size enables him to reach it, so he commonly inflicts 

 his wounds on the face, and thus he more certainly insures a fatal issue. The 

 extent of some of these ravages may be gained by reference to Astruc, Mem. 

 Montpellier, 1819 ; D'Arluc, Recueil P6riodique, tom. 4 ; Baudot, Mem. de la 

 Soc. Roy. de Med. ; Gazette de Sant^ du 11 Sep. 1813 ; Journal de Med., 

 tom. 39 ; Histoire des Ravages causae par Louve enrag^e dans le Departe- 

 ment de PI sere en 1817 ; Troilliet 



