DOGS. 39 



Sometimes he draws himself up, as though pained 

 in the bowels. He does not bark, but makes a pecu- 

 liar sort of howl. When the disease draws toward 

 a fatal termination, the system becomes exhausted 

 by excitertient, the dog's legs fail to support him, and 

 he dies about the fourth to the sixth day, from an 

 accumulation of evils. 



This dreadful disease being so easily commu- 

 nicated, and so fatal in its effects, it becomes a 

 paramount duty to prevent the possibility of its 

 spreading. The moment you have reason to suspect 

 its existence, you ought to tie up the animal, and as 

 soon as your fears are borne out by the actual ap- 

 pearance of the disease, hesitate not a moment to 

 destroy the dog: the plea that the animal is a prized 

 or valuable one, is but poor set off to the serious and 

 fatal consequences that may and most likely will 

 ensue, if the rabid animal happen to bite any other 

 of its own or any other species, to say nothing of the 

 probability of any human being becoming bitten by 

 it. To talk of a remedy, is all but hopeless: rarely 

 indeed is a cure effected, after the disease has exhi- 

 bited itself; and the serious responsibility incurred 

 by the dangers likely to ensue, is so great, that no 

 consideration ought to weigh against the immediate 

 destruction of the dog: it is a mercy to the animal 

 itself to save it from the horrible death which is the 

 enevitable result of this fatal disease. 



The moment any one is bitten by a dog in a 

 rabid state, immediate steps should be taken to do 

 all that art can do to avert the dreadful consequences 

 that otherwise must ensue. The best way, perhaps, 

 is to wash the wound immediately, and have the 

 parts burnt out with a hot iron, or cut out. But 



