DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 52g 



" Symptoms resembling those of rabies are observed in para- 

 tittc enteritis, caused by tape worms ; m. gastro-enteritis, produced 

 by poison, (arsenic, corrosive sublimate, benzoic acid,) or by the 

 presence of foreign bodies in the intestine (bones and pieces of 

 coin that have been swallowed) ; in intestinal obstructions (in- 

 iragination), caused by the collection of indigestible substances in 

 the intestine (fragments of bone) ; in the case ai foreign bodies in 

 the car, (heads of wheat, for instance, with the beard attached,) 

 in the case of parasites in the nasal cavity, (pentastoma), in the 

 kidneys, (large palisade worm), or skin, (mange) ; in urcemia in- , 

 duced by long-continued unnatural alimentation, (starving, feed- 

 ing with substances containing no salt). In poisoning by means 

 of metallic preparations, (the salts of copper and zinc,) there 

 are likewise produced appearances similar to those of rabies: 

 — constrictions of the pharynx, vomiting, and acute gastro-ente- 

 ritis. 



" SjTnptoms similar to those of hydrophobia may furthermore 

 be occasioned by severe pain, (toothache), by severe mental dis- 

 turbance, (deprivation of their young, extreme stimulation and 

 non-gratification of the sexual appetite) ; also by vaxioxa functional 

 and anatomical changes of the central nervous system. 



" In this connection should be mentioned numerous cases of 

 meningitis, encephalitis, hydrochephalus, blood poisoning (pyjemia, 

 secpticaemia) ; furthermore, the whole class of mental diseases in 

 dogs, which have hitherto been completely overlooked, their exist- 

 ence not having even been suspected by most observers. The dog, 

 which as an intellectual and sensual being stands so high in the 

 scale, and whose domesticated in-door life, as the companion of 

 man, is in certain respects directly contrary to his nature as a wild 

 animal, possesses a highly excitable nervous system, and is ex- 

 tremely liable to contract nervous diseases. This fact is shown by 

 the frequent occurrence of the disorders falling under that head 

 (for instance, epilepsy, chorea, epileptiform spasms, and sjjasms of 

 leflex origin), and equally certain is the prevalence among dogs of 

 pure psychosis, such as mania and melancholia, unaccompanied by 

 any material post-mortem changes that can be detected ; and these 

 very forms of illness — having in part also a reflex origin through 

 the caises above mentioned — are frequently confounded with hy- 



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