OR CANINE MADNESS. 229 



being desirable that the thread of the detail should be uninter- 

 rupted and uniform in the text. 



Post-mortem Appearances. 



The morbid anatomy of the rabid dog forms a most important 

 feature in a portrait of the malady, but is one that was long 

 neglected. It by no means unfrequently happens, that it is not 

 until after a dog is dead that he is suspected of having been rabid, 

 although he may have bitten one or more persons. Under such 

 circumstances, it is evident that it is of the utmost consequence to 

 be able to decide, from a post-mortem examination of the dead body 

 alone, whether the disease did or did not exist. Fortunately the 

 morbid appearances peculiar to these cases are usually well 

 marked, and so universally present, that a just decision is seldom 

 difficult to form, even from them alone. 



On a careful examination of the head, the brain and its mem- 



rence, and the medical attendant ought never to he deceived : rigid convulsions 

 may contort the frame, and close the mouth ; but there is no other likeness to 

 rabies present, and the dog is as incapable as he is disinclined to do mischief 

 in any way : the death of the tetanic dog will also, by internal inspection of 

 the body, at once distinguish between these diseases, as in tetanus there are 

 few marks of visceral disturbance. Spasmodic colic will contort the dog, and 

 may sometimes make him irritable and disposed to bite, if he be disturbed ; 

 but he will never attempt it purposely : on the contrary, he will rather avoid 

 all intercourse with living beings. Colic also, particularly that occasioned by 

 taking lead internally, produces excruciating pains not present in rabies, 

 which pains also remit and return at uncertain intervals: again, although 

 plaintive moans may be heard in spasmodic colic, barking or howling is al- 

 ways absent ; neither are the jaws paralyzed : active purging also relieves this, 

 but is totally inert in the other. Lastly, the mistakes likely to occur between 

 rabies and other diseases are, in some degree, attributable to erroneous pic- 

 tvures drawn by authors of such diseases : thus, Dr. Jenner's account of the 

 distemper, instead of deserving the praise his great name has drawn down up- 

 on it, is entirely calculated to mislead : indeed, it might be supposed by his 

 readers, that he was purposely describing rabies and not distemper. — See 

 Medico- Chirurg. Trans, vol. i, p. 263. I could produce many similar instances 

 in other authors also. 



