174 EVERYTHING ABOUT DOGS. 



plainer than those reasons given in the short letter in last Sunday's Post-Dispatch. 



" 'Yes/ said the Professor, : I believe that I can. When I said that I had 

 never seen a genuine case of hydrophobia I meant it. I have seen many aogs 

 that were thought to be mad, but have never yet seen one that I was thoroughly 

 satisfied was afflicted with rabies. If people would save the lives of dogs 

 suspected of being thus affected, we might in time have an understanding of the 

 subject by studying the sick dogs. But the first thing that happens to a dog when 

 he shows signs of anything wrong is to immediately suspect it of being mad, 

 and after that it is a very short time until its existence is ended by a bullet 

 through the heaid, and the most valuable evidence in the case is destroyed. If 

 the dog had been spared and confined, if he had been mad, the fact could have 

 been easily determined, and he could be destroyed after the evidence was complete 

 that it was a case of rabies without a shadow of doubt. But this course is seldom 

 pursued, and the dog that has bitten any one in a spasm, it makes no matter 

 what was the foundation for his pain, is immediately killed without regard to his 

 value, and the bitten party left to suffer the torments of uncertainty as to whether 

 he or she was inoculated with the virus of hydrophobia or not. 



" 'Now here is a case in point,' continued the professor. 'Last week, just 

 before I came to St. Louis, a gentleman called on me one evening at my home In 

 Cincinnati and said that he had just taken his pet dog to the police station near 

 my house to be shot; that he thought that the dog had gone mad, and to be on 

 the safe side he had decided to have him destroyed, and had brought him to the 

 station house for that purpose. It was with much reluctance that he did this, 

 however, as the dog was a household pet, and its death would be keenly felt and 

 its presence missed. The policeman who was on duty at the time suggested that, 

 as I lived near the station he could call me over to look at the dog. I assured the 

 gentleman that I would go over to the station in a few minutes, and if I could do! 

 anything for the animal I would use the extent of my abilities, and he returned 

 home. 



" 'After I had finished my dinner I went over to the police station and found 

 that the Sergeant had arrived. I asked him if he had the dog. 



" 'Yes,' said he; 'he's in that cage there.' 



" 'Bring him out,' said I. 



'"Not on your life,' replied the Sergeant. 'I. wouldn't touch that dog for all 

 the money in Hamilton County. Why, man, he's mad; I won't go near him. If 

 you want to be foolish enough to try and do anything with him, go and unlock 

 the cell yourself; I think he ought to be shot without delay.' 



" 'Well, I went over to the cell and saw the dog. He was a little Italian grey- 

 hound, as fragile-looking as a long-stemmed wine glass. The poor little fellow was 

 in the 'throes of a hard spasm as I looked at him. He had his delicate, slender, 

 head thrust between the bars in his pain, and his hind-duarters were Cammed in 

 between the two adjoining uprights. He looked up at me with fear showing out 

 of his sick, brown eyes, but betrayed 110 signs of dog madness. He was so weak 

 and trembling that he could scarcely stand. 



" 'I unlocked the cell door and went in and picked the little fellow up, and 

 after soothing him and getting him quieted down a little, I administered a dose 

 of a fractional part of a grain of morphine to ease his immediate pain, and 

 carried him away. A little later I gave him-a^ small dose of castor oil and 

 put him to bed. I sat up with that dog until 3 o'clock in the morning, and after 

 he was relieved by the oil he was well, and, barring the weakness resulting from 

 his terrific spasms of the night before, he was perfectly sound.' " 



