108 A MONTH IN THE FORESTS OF FRANCE. 



do supervene, the dog, in ninety-nine cases out of a 

 hundred, dies. In these cases of mad distemper, 

 caused by a general inflammatory action, commencing 

 usually with the lungs, bleeding, blistering,, setons, 

 and hot baths, taking care not to let the hot bath be 

 turned into a cold one by exposure to the air while the 

 coat is wet (a thing often done by ignorant servants^, 

 combined together and freely persisted in, are the 

 only cures. Even then it is difficult to save one in 

 three who are thus affected. I had a servant, usually 

 not afraid of anything, bitten by a greyhound while 

 in this mad state, and for weeks after the man had 

 (or took it into his head that he had) the most curious 

 canine fancies. I kept up his spirits, assured him 

 that the greyhounds were none of them mad from 

 hydrophobia, and told him that, if he found a repug- 

 nance to a pot of beer, and an impossibility to drink 

 it, then only would the faith I had in the opinion I 

 promulgated be shaken. He took his beer with his 

 customary relish, his thumb got well, and some of 

 the dogs recovered — a proof at once that they 

 never had had the hydrophobia ; for all in this dis- 

 temper were kept in a hospital together, and had bitten 

 each other, turn and turn about, throughout their 

 sufferings. 



Let my readers, then, take this additional advice ; 



