106 A MONTH IN THE FORESTS OF FRANCE. 



a rabid animal, suffering from the hydrophobia, got 

 among them ; and on this head I prayed my friends 

 for the future to be more careful. If any decrease 

 of animal spirits, or repugnance to food, dulness, 

 or estrangedness of manner was perceptible in a 

 hound, he ought that instant to be removed from his 

 fellows. Loss of spirits and absence of appetite are 

 the forerunners of many diseases, and may he the first 

 symptom of madness; and therefore on every account 

 each day, morning, noon, and night, the pack should 

 be inspected, and any hound showing such symptoms 

 should be removed. 



While on this very serious subject, and for the 

 benefit of the general reader, I will allude to an error 

 in reference to hydrophobia which has gained some 

 credence, and it is, that a dog suffering from this 

 fatal madness, will occasionally, or has been known 

 " occasionally to lap water." I am most anxious 

 to bring this matter before the public on the very first 

 opportunity, because the assertion of this error is 

 calculated to do much harm; and it may not only 

 cause many valuable animals that are not suffering 

 from hydrophobia to be destroyed, but, supposing one 

 of those dogs had bitten a man, the most tenible 

 horrors might invade the human mind, for which 

 there was not the remotest foundation. Instead of 



