RABIES. 131 



him, and dash himself on the floor; there, freed from all control, he 

 rolled about, beat himself, and tore everything that he could reach. In 

 the short intervals that separated these crises, he regained possession of his 

 reasoning powers : he begged his old father to pardon him, he talked to 

 him and to those around with the most intense affection, and it was only 

 when he felt that a new attack was at hand, that he prayed them to leave 

 him. At length his mental excitation began to subside ; his strength was 

 worn out, and he suffered himself to be placed on his bed. The horrible 

 convulsions from time to time returned, but the dread of liquors had 

 ceased. He demanded something to drink. They gave him a little white 

 wine ; but he was unable to swallow it : it was returned through his 

 nostrils. The poor fellow then endeavoured to sleep ; but it was soon per- 

 ceived that he had ceased to live. 



The early symptoms of rabies in the dog are occasionally very obscure. 

 In the greater number of cases, these are sullenriess, fidgetiness, and con- 

 tinual shifting of posture. Where I have had opportunity, I have generally 

 found these circumstances in regular succession. For several consecutive 

 hours perhaps he retreats to his basket or his bed. He shows no disposi- 

 tion to bite, and he answers the call upon him laggardly. He is curled 

 up and his face is buried between his paws and his breast. At length he 

 begins to be fidgety. He searches out new resting-places ; but he very 

 soon changes them for others. He takes again to his own bed ; but he is 

 continually shifting his posture. He begins to gaze strangely about him 

 as he lies on his bed. His countenance is clouded and suspicious. He 

 comes to one and another of the family, and he fixes on them a steadfast 

 gaze as if he would read their very thoughts. " I feel strangely ill," he 

 seems to say : " have you anything to do with it ? or you ? or you ?" Has 

 not a dog mind enough for this ? If we have observed a rabid dog at 

 the commencement of the disease, we have seen this to the very life. 



There is a species of dog the small French poodle the essence of 

 whose character and constitution is fidgetiness or perpetual motion. 



If this dog has been bitten, and rabies is about to establish itself, he 

 is the most irritative restless being that can be conceived of; starting con- 

 vulsively at the slightest sound ; disposing of his bed in every direction, 

 seeking out one retreat after another in order to rest his wearied frame, 

 but quiet only for a moment in any one, and the motion of his limbs fre- 

 quently simulating chorea and even epilepsy. 



A peculiar delirium is an early symptom, and one that will never 

 deceive. A young man had been bitten by one of his dogs ; I was 

 requested to meet a medical gentleman on the subject : I was a little 

 behind my time ; as I entered the room I found the dog eagerly devouring 

 a pan of sopped bread. " There is no madness here," said the gentleman. 

 He had scarcely spoken, when in a moment the dog quitted the sop, and, 

 with a furious bark sprung against the wall as if he would seize some 

 imaginary object that he fancied was there. " Did you see that ?" was my 

 reply. " What do you think of it?" " I see nothing in it," was his re- 

 tort : " the dog heard some noise on the other side of the wall." At my 

 serious urging, however, he consented to excise the part. I procured a 

 poor worthless cur, and got him bitten by this dog, and carried the disease 

 from this dog to the third victim : they all became rabid one after the 

 other, and there my experiment ended. The serious matter under con- 

 sideration, perhaps, justified me in going so far as I did. 



K 2 



