RABIES. 143 



Much attention should be paid to the appearance of the stomach and 

 its contents. If it contains a strange mingled mass of hair, and hay, and 

 straw, and horse-dung, and earth, or portions of the bed on which the dog 

 had lain, we should seldom err if we affirmed that he died rabid ; for it 

 is only under the influence of the depraved appetite of rabies that such 

 substances are devoured. It is not the presence of every kind of extra- 

 neous substance that will be satisfactory : pieces of coal, or wood, or even 

 the filthiest matter, will not justify us in pronouncing the animal to be 

 rabid ; it is that peculiarly mingled mass of straw, and hair, and filth of 

 various kinds, that must indicate the existence of rabies. 



When there are no solid indigesta, but a fluid composed principally of 

 vitiated bile or extra vasated blood, there will be a strong indication of the 

 presence of rabies. When, also, there are in the duodenum and jejunum 

 small portions of indigesta, the detection of the least quantity will be deci- 

 sive. The remainder has been ejected by vomit ; and inquiry should be 

 made of the nature of the matter that has been discharged. 



The inflammation of rabies is of a peculiar character in the stomach. It 

 is generally confined to the summits of the folds of the stomach, or it is 

 most intense there. On the summits of the rugae there are effusions of 

 bloody matter, or spots of ecchymosis, presenting an appearance almost 

 like crushed black currants. There may be only a fewof them ; but they 

 are indications of the evil that has been effected. 



From appearances that present themselves in the intestines, the blad- 

 der, the blood-vessels, or the brain, no conclusion can be drawn ; they are. 

 simply indications of inflammation. 



We now rapidly, and for a little while, retrace our steps. What is the 

 cause of this fatal disease, that has so long occupied our attention ? It is 

 the saliva of a rabid animal received into a wound, or on an abraded sur- 

 face. In horses, cattle, sheep, swine, and the human being, it is caused 

 by inoculation alone ; but, according to some persons, it is produced spon- 

 taneously in other animals. 



I will suppose that a wound by a rabid dog is inflicted. The virus is 

 deposited on or near its surface, and there it remains for a certain indefi- 

 nite period of time. The wound generally heals up kindly ; in fact, it 

 differs in no respect from a similar wound inflicted by the teeth of an 

 animal in perfect health. Weeks and months in some cases pass on, and 

 there is nothing to indicate danger, until a degree of itching in the cicatrix 

 of the wound is felt. From its long-continued presence as a foreign 

 body, it may have rendered the tissue, or nervous fibre connected with it, 

 irritable and susceptible of impression, or it may have attracted and assi- 

 milated to itself certain elements, and rabies is produced. 



The virus does not appear to have the same effect on every animal. Of 

 four dogs bitten by, or inoculated from, one that is rabid, three, perhaps, 

 would display every symptom of the disease. Of four human beings, not 

 more than one would become rabid. John Hunter used to say not more 

 than one in twenty ; but that is probably erroneous. Cattle appear to 

 have a greater chance of escape, and sheep a still greater chance. 



The time of incubation is different in different animals. With regard 

 to the human being, there are various strange and contradictory stories. 

 Some have asserted that it has appeared on the very day on which the bite 

 was inflicted, or within two or three days of that time. Dr. Bardsley, 

 on the other hand, relates a case in which twelve years elapsed between 



