RABIES. 139 



and then to a dark green, indicative of ulceration deeply seated within 

 the eye. In eight and forty hours from the first clouding of the eye, it 

 becomes one disorganised mass. 



There is in the rabid dog a strange embarrassment of general sensibility 

 a seemingly total loss of feeling. 



Absence of pain in the bitten part is an almost invariable accompani- 

 ment of rabies. I have known a dog set to work, and gnaw and tear the 

 flesh completely away from his legs and feet. At other times the penis 

 is perfectly demolished from the very base. Ellis in his " Shepherd's 

 Sure Guide," asserts, that, however severely a mad dog is beaten, a cry is 

 never forced from him. I am certain of the truth of this, for I have again 

 and again failed in extracting that cry. Ellis tells that at the kennel at 

 Goddesden, some of the grooms heated a poker red hot, and holding it 

 near the mad hound's mouth, he most greedily seized it, and kept it until 

 the mouth was most dreadfully burned. 



In the great majority of cases of furious madness, and in almost every 

 case of dumb madness, there is evident affection of the lumbar portion of 

 the spinal cord. There is a staggering gait, not indicative of general 

 weakness, but referable to the hind quarters alone, and indicating an affec- 

 tion of the lumbar motor nerve. In a few cases it approaches more to a 

 general paralytic affection. 



In the very earliest period of rabies, the person accustomed to dogs will 

 detect the existence of the disease. 



The animal follows the flight, as has been already stated, of various 

 imaginary objects. I have often watched the changing countenance of the 

 rabid dog when he has been lost to every surrounding object. I have seen 

 the brightening countenance and the wagging tail as some pleasing vision 

 has passed before him ; but, oftener has the countenance indicated the min- 

 gled dislike and fear with which the intruder was regarded. As soon as 

 the phantom came within the proper distance he darted on it with true 

 rabid violence. 



A spaniel, seemingly at play, snapped, in the morning, at the feet of 

 several persons. In the evening he bit his master, his master's friend, 

 and another dog. The old habits of obedience and affection then re- 

 turned. His master, most strangely, did not suspect the truth, and brought 

 the animal to me to be examined. The animal was, as I had often seen 

 him, perfectly docile and eager to be caressed. At my suggestion, or 

 rather entreaty, he was left with me. On the following morning the 

 disease was plain enough, and on the following day he died. A post- 

 mortem examination took place, and proved that he was unequivocally 

 rabid. 



A lady would nurse her dog, after I had declared it to be rabid, and when 

 he was dangerous to every one but herself, and even to her from the saliva 

 which he plentifully scattered about. At length he darted at every one 

 that entered the room, until a footman keeping the animal at bay with the 

 poker, the husband of the lady dragged her from the room. The noise that 

 the dog made was then terrific, and he almost gnawed his way through the 

 door. At midnight his violence nearly ceased, and the door was partially 

 opened. He was staggering and falling about, with every limb violently 

 agitated. At the entreaty of the lady, a servant ventured in to make a 

 kind of bed for him. The dog suddenly darted at him, and dropped and 

 died. 



