ANTI-KABIC INOCULATION 541 



vaccination in the dog being at least three years. In man 

 the efficacy of the treatment can only be judged by 

 statistics. The mortality after bites by supposed rabid 

 animals is variously stated, the most favourable being 

 about 16 per cent. (Leblanc). At the Pasteur Institute, 

 Paris, among 2730 cases treated in which the animal 

 which inflicted the bites was proved to be rabid by inocu- 

 lation experiments, nineteen deaths occurred a mortality 

 of O7 per cent. In 1910, 401 cases were treated, with 

 no death ; in 1911, 341 cases, with one death ; in 1912, 

 395 cases, with no death, being mortalities of O'OO, 0'29, 

 and 0*00 per cent, respectively. 



The failure of the treatment may be due to two causes : 

 (1) delay in its commencement, and (2) a short incubation 

 period. The principle of the treatment probably depends 

 upon the long incubation period of the disease, owing to 

 which it is possible to forestall the disease, and to immunise 

 the body by the inoculations before its onset. If, unfor- 

 tunately, the infective material should be very virulent, 

 and the incubation period thereby reduced to the lower 

 limit, it may be impossible to do this before the onset 

 of the disease, and the same is the case if the commence- 

 ment of the treatment be delayed. Pasteur's system of 

 inoculation is useless when the disease has declared itself. 



By vaccinating animals by the Pasteur method by a 

 long series of injections, and with the most virulent material, 

 the blood-serum acquires " anti- " properties, and this 

 " anti-rabic " serum is said to be of service in the treatment 

 of the declared disease. 



Variations from typical rabies have been described both in 

 animals and in man under such names as " chronic rabies," " abor- 

 tive rabies," etc. Harvey, Carter, and Acton * describe a spon- 

 taneous disease in dogs due to a general infection with B. pyocyaneus. 

 which closely simulates rabies. By subdural inoculation the disease 



1 Veterinary Record, July 22, 1911, p. 57. 



