Facts relating to Hydrophobia, 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, ani 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 

 tliat 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- 



