OR CANINE MADNESS. 217 



strongly characteristic of rabies, and of no other complaint. 

 Some shew an early disposition to lick every thing cold about 

 them, as iron, stone, &c. These, and other peculiarities, often 

 appear in lap-dogs, and others that are under immediate observa- 

 tion, one, two, or even three days before the more decisive and 

 active symptoms. The constant licking of a particular spot or 

 portion of the body I have regarded as a very strong characteristic 

 of rabies ; particularly when the animal is seen to watch over this 

 part with a jealous solicitude, or to bite and even gnaw it. Others 

 spend their ferocity on their bed or the basket in which they 

 usually sleep : in fact, every thing awakens his ire, until, com- 

 pletely exhausted, he sinks into a slumber, from which ever and 

 anon he starts up in a restless or ferocious mood. Not more than 

 two days intervene between his precursory symptoms noted and a 

 salivary discharge, which seldom lasts more than two days ; and 

 is often succeeded by a viscid spume, which the dog with much 

 earnestness rubs off with his fore paws. The eyes, even in this 

 early stage, if observed attentively, will often be found rather more 

 bright, lively, and red than usual, and are then accompanied with 

 a certain quickness and irritability of manner^. In other cases, 

 the eyes are less vivid ; and, more particularly, when the disease 

 is to assume the mild form, called dumb madness, they often pre- 

 sent a dull aspect, and a purulent discharge from the inner angles ; 

 occasionally the nose also throws out pus. The salivary discharge 

 is often increased early in the complaint, and so continues : in other 

 cases, a parched dry tongue is seen, with insatiable thirst. The 

 purulent discharge has occasioned the disease to be mistaken for 

 distemper. Much stress is laid on a sullen manner, and a disposi- 

 tion to hide or retreat from observation, as early characteristics of 

 madness; and these appearances are certainly not unusual in 

 hounds and kennelled dogs, but they are less frequently observed 



* Mr. Youatt expresses this alteration in the eyes as being of a peculiarly 

 bright and dazzling kind, accompanied by a slight strabismus ; not the pro- 

 trusion of the membrana nictitans, as in distemper, but an actual distortion 

 from the natural axis of the eye. 



