294 



THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY 



trial of which should not be omitted, if the poison was de- 

 stroyed at first by cutting; neither if the bite has happened 

 some time, nor even when the following symptoms have 

 taken place: the part bitten becoming tender and inflamed, 

 uneasiness and stupidity, frightful dreams, convulsions, 

 eyes red and watery, pain all over the body, difficulty in 

 swallowing, great thirst, and when liquid is only brought 

 before the patient he appears choked, accompanied with 

 trembling and shivering over the whole body; vomiting 

 bile frequently occurs, attended with great thirst and fever: 

 the last symptoms are raging and foaming at the mouth, 

 spitting at the bystanders, and strong convulsions, as if 

 drawn double; — no patient should be given over till the 

 last moment: the mercurial friction should be tried, and 

 the prescribed medicine given while he exists, as there is 

 hope of recovery by perseverance in the foregoing method. 



"The patient should be kept on very low diet, and no 

 Spirits or wine be used." 



The following are the progressive symptoms of hydropho- 

 bia: when a Dog becomes melancholy, droops his head, 

 forbears eating, seems to forget his former habits, and as he 

 runs snatches at every thing: if he often looks upwards, 

 and that his tail at its setting on be rather erect, and the rest 

 of it hanging down; if his eyes be red, his breath strong, 

 his voice hoarse, and that he drivels and foams at the 

 mouth, you may be satisfied of the approaches of hydro- 

 phobia; and the only thing that should be done is instantly 

 to despatch him, however great a favourite he may be. If 

 at this period he should remain at liberty, he will certainly 

 leave his home: he goes as fast as he can; and the mischief 

 that may happen, owing thus to a mad Dog breaking away, 

 and running over an extent of country, is incalculable, as 

 he spares no living creature. 



The following accurate description, from the pen of Mr. 

 Youatt, appeared in the Sporting Magazine, September, 

 1S25:— 



"The symptoms of rabies in the Dog are the following, 

 and nearly in the order in which they usually appear: — An 

 earnest licking, or scratching or rubbing, of some particu- 

 lar part; sullenness, and a disposition to hide from obser- 

 vation; considerable costiveness and occasional vomiting; 

 an eager search for indigestible substances — as bits of thread, 

 hair, straw, and dung; an occasional inclination to eat its 

 own dung, and a general propensity to lap its own urine. 

 The two last are perfectly characteristic circumstances. 

 The Dog becomes irritable; quarrels with his campanions; 

 eagerly hunts and worries the cat; mumbles the hand or 

 foot of his master, or perhaps suddenly bites it, and then 

 crouches and asks pardon. As the disease proceeds, the 

 eyes become red; they have a peculiar bright and fierce 

 expression; some degree of strabismus or squinting very 



early appears; not the protrusion of the membrana nidi- 

 tans, or haw, over the eye, which, in distemper, often 

 gives the apjiearance of squinting, but an actual distortion 

 of the eyes; the lid of one eye is evidently more contracted 

 than the other: twitchings occur round that eye; they gra- 

 dually spread over that cheek, and finally over the whole 

 face. In the latter stages of the disease, that eye frequently 

 assumes a dull green colour, and at length becomes a mass 

 of ulceration. 



"After the second day, the Dog usually begins to lose a 

 perfect control over the voluntary muscles. He catches at 

 his food with an eager snap, as if uncertain whether he 

 could seize it; and he often fails in the attempt. Ke 

 either bolts his meat almost unchewed, or in the attempt to 

 chew it suffers it to drop from his mouth. This want of 

 power over the muscles of the jaw, tongue, and throat, in- 

 creases, until the lower jaw becomes dependent, the tongue 

 protrudes from the mouth, and is of a dark and almost 

 black colour. The animal is able, however, by a sudden 

 convulsive efibrt, to close his jaws, and to inflict a severe 

 bite. 



"The Dog is in incessant action: he scrapes his bed toge- 

 ther, disposes it under him in various forms, shifts his pos- 

 ture every instant — starts up, and eagerly gazes at some 

 real or imaginary object: a peculiar kind of delirium comes' 

 on: he traces the fancied path of some imaginary object 

 floating around him: he fixes his gaze intently on some 

 spot in the wall or partition, and suddenly plunges and 

 snaps at it; his eyes then close, and his head droops; but 

 the next moment he starts again to renewed activity: he is 

 in an instant recalled from this delirium by the voice of his 

 master, and listens attentively to his commands; but as soon 

 as his master ceases to address him, he relapses into his 

 former mental wandering. 



" His thirst is excessive, (there is no hydrophobia in the 

 Dog) and the power over the muscles concerned in degluti- 

 tion being impaired, he plunges his face into the water up 

 to the very eyes, and assiduously, but ineSectually, attempts 

 to lap. * 



"His desire to do mischief depends much on his previous 

 disposition and habits. I have known it not to proceed 

 beyond an occasional snap, and then only when purposely 

 irritated; but with the fighting Dog the scene is often ter- 

 rific. He springs to the end of his chain — he darts with 

 ferocity at some object he conceives to be within his reach 



* In those instances of liydropbobia which have fallen under my notice, 

 I have never observed the dog " plunge his face into the water up to the very 

 eyes, and assiduously, but ineffectually, attempt to lap." On the contrary, 

 the animal has always been capable of lapping, and has testified no symp- 

 toms of horror or disgust at the siglitof lluids : however, in tlic disease callfd 

 Dumb Madness, 1 have noticed symptoms similar to tlie above. 



