Facis relating to Hydrophobit 159 
‘vary the symptoms of the disease as well as the time of its appear- 
ance. Difference in age, constitution, habits of life, and state of 
health, at the time of exposure, may cause a difference in the symp- 
toms of the disease, and in the time intervening, between exposure and 
its development, and between its development and fatal termination. 
Facts indicate this difference, some falling under its power in a very 
short period, and others enduring it longer. In some the disease ap- 
pears soon, and in others, years elapse before its development. 
As a practical rule, in relation to this strange and hitherto uncon- 
trollable poison, it is deemed strictly philosophical, to fix the time of 
its lurking, in every instance, by the known facts which mark its de- 
velopment, and altogether unphilosophical, when it appears with mark- 
ed symptoms, to deny its existence, because it appears long after ex- 
posure. To deny the possibility of its lurking beyond a short period, 
has an evident tendency to multiply the dangers of exposure, pre- 
clude the explanation of facts which occur, and increase the chances 
of malpractice. It may appear very.improbable, that so active a poi- 
son should lurk in the system for years; but since its development is 
' affected by so many circumstances, facts may render it morally cer- 
tain, that it does remain inactive, in the system, for a period of years. 
Facts constitute a firmer basis of belief, than any theory, however 
nicely contructed, and however fully supported, by that kind of evi- 
dence, on which all theories depend. _Is it the greater improbability, 
that the poison should remain long inactive in the system ; or that the 
disease should appear with marked symptoms, and be wholly separ- 
ate from the only known exciting cause? It invites consideration, 
whether a preconceived opinion, that the poison does never remain 
long inactive in the” system, has not caused many genuine cases of 
this disease, to be passed over in silence ; inquiries respecting the 
cause of others, which might have proved successful, to be suppress- 
ed ; and others still to be designated spontaneous hydrophobia. Causa 
latet, is a rule of safe application to effects witnessed in one connex- 
ion, without a circumstantial knowledge of the cause, with which, in 
other connexions, they have been invariably associated. 
_ It may not be'difficult to trace the close analogy between these 
views of hydrophobia, and that scornful defiance of rules and limits, 
which characterizes almost all other inveterate diseases; and from 
that analogy to infer their probable correctness. If they err, it is on 
the safe side. A disease of such power and terror, which has rarely 
if ever been cured, should, if possible, be avoided. ‘The more se- 
