INFECTIOUS DISEASES OF CATTLE. 411 



Owing to the rigid quarantine regulations enforced against dogs 

 imported into Australia, that country remains absolutely free from 

 the disease. Following the canine race, cattle seem to be the most 

 frequently affected, probably because rabid dogs, next to their morbid 

 desire to attack other members of their own race, have a better 

 opportunity to bite grazing cattle than any other species of animal. 

 The relative frequency of rabies in these two species of animals is 

 indicated by the carefully compiled statistics of the German Empire, 

 which show that 904 dogs and 223 cows died of rabies in 1898, while 

 in 1899 there were 911 cases in dogs and 171 in cattle. The latter 

 receive bites most frequently on the hind legs and in the hips and 

 about the lower jaw. These places are most accessible to dogs, owing 

 to the habit of cattle to drive their tormentors away by lowering 

 their heads and using their horns. Every animal bitten does not 

 necessarily develop the disease, but the percentage of fatalities has 

 been variously estimated and averages from 25 to 30 per cent of the 

 bitten cattle. This, however, depends on the location and size of the 

 wound, as well as the amount of hemorrhage produced, and various 

 other conditions. In general, the nearer the bite is located to the 

 central nervous system and the deeper the wound inflicted, the greater 

 the danger of a fatal result. In cases where the hemorrhage result- 

 ing from the bite is profuse there is a possibility that the virus will 

 be washed out of the wound and thus obviate the danger of subse- 

 quent appearance of the disease. 



The virus after being deposited in the wound remains latent for an 

 extremely variable period of time, which also depends on the size and 

 depth of the wound as well as its location and the amount of the 

 virulent saliva introduced. Experiments have proved that the virus 

 follows the course of the nerves to the spinal cord and along the lat- 

 ter to the brain before the symptoms appear. Gerlach having col- 

 lected the statistics from 133 cases has found this time, known as the 

 period of incubation, to vary from 14 to 285 days. The gi-eat major- 

 ity of cases, however, contract the disease in one to three months after 

 the bite has been inflicted. 



Symptoms. — As in dogs, both furious and dumb rabies are met 

 with, the former being more common in cattle. However, a sharp 

 line of distinction can not be drawn between these two forms of the 

 disease, as the furious form usually merges into the dumb, due to the 

 paralysis which always appears prior to death. The typical cases of 

 dumb rabies are those where the paralysis appears at the beginning of 

 the attack and remains until the death of the animal. The disease 

 first manifests itself by a loss of appetite and rumination and stop- 

 ping of the secretion of milk, great restlessness, anxiety, manifesta- 

 tion of fear, and change in the disposition of the animal. This 

 preliminary stage is foUowed in a day or two by the stage of excita- 



